Of all the unconventional combinations of stores that exist— cakes and clothes, sarees and ceramics– a bookstore and an organic farmer’s market with a honey parlour front, isn’t the farthest of reaches. After all, what reader’s dream has fallen far away from living a quiet life on a picket fenced farm with a big case of books.

Just off of Kalidasa Road, on the edge of 13th cross, is Silverfish Books, attached to Farmer’s House and the more recently opened, Kutz Bowl Organic Café— all three stashed together to form a compendium, aiming to provide a cohesive experience. “We were already catering to a healthy body and mind with the Farmer’s House, the only thing left was to provide a healthy soul and that’s where the bookstore comes in,” says Ms. Anvita Sudarshan, the spine behind it all, though she credits the Farmer’s House as her dad’s idea, while the bookstore and the honey parlour is her mother’s baby.

Stemming from a lack of bookstores in the city that encouraged its customers to have a browsing experience— without the bother of peering, persistent store clerks, parking hassle and just the bustle of the city, Silverfish opened its doors on the 1st of July 2020, to be a leisure destination in itself, a bookstore one didn’t end up associating with everything it shouldn’t be. With a capacity to house about six thousand books, the titles at Silver Fish are carefully curated by Ms. Sudarshan herself. “I try to be as diverse as I can with the titles,” she says, but she is also conscious of a personal bias working underneath.

Diverse or biased, or both with an and connecting them, it is hard not to notice the care that is involved in the curation of the store. As you make your way through the aisles, scanning copies after copies, maybe looking for a specific title, maybe just browsing trying to find your next read, you will realise that though there is a system, there also is a very human touch to it all, with each book placed exactly where it should be casually bumped into.

As ideal as owning a bookstore seems, it is not all fairy-tales. A filmmaker by qualification and a writer by profession, with her debut book hitting stands next month, Ms. Anvita Sudarshan dived headfirst into the business of books with no prior experience in either handling books or storekeeping. “Organisation takes the most time. It is a lot of logistics and our brains weren’t trained that way,” she claims.

The Kutz Bowl Organic Café is the newest member on the block, while Farmer’s House preceded the bookstore. The Café, which is just a couple of weeks old, was also opened with an intention of adding to the complete browsing experience, to make this the destination for leisure instead of just a pitstop on the way somewhere else. Farmer’s Market, popular for its Sunday markets where farmers come in to sell their organic produce directly, and the honey parlour, are largely their own entities catering to a varied customer base. As far apart from each other, as they seem, once you step into their precinct, you realise that the seemingly polar opposites come together seamlessly as they organically flow from and into each other, giving you their intended cohesive, leisurely browsing experience.

Book Recommendations—

To celebrate World Book Day, Ms. Anvita Sudarshan shares some of her favourite picks:

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

2. Circe by Madeline Miller

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child - not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long - and among her island's guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything. So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss - the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man's world.

3. My Favourite Stories: Bosky’s Panchatantra by Gulzar

My Favourite Stories: Bosky’s Panchatantra is a compilation of some of the best-known stories from the Panchatantra collection of tales. These stories have been around for as long as one can remember, and are cited as the most frequently translated works produced in India. They have been adapted and penned by renowned lyricist and poet Gulzar. In this book, the author presents these story poems in a manner that is engaging and entertaining, yet simple enough for young minds to grasp. The true essence of the story is retained, as the stories get transformed into a lyrical treat for the reader. Gulzar’s retelling of these famous tales is witty and amusing, and can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

4. Roald Dahl

“I would recommend a hell lot of Roald Dahl! But then anyone would,” Ms. Sudarshan jokes.
“It’s such a special part of childhood,” I chime in.

5. Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra

The Tao of Physics is Fritjof Capra’s classic exploration of the connections between Eastern mysticism and modern physics. An international bestseller, the book’s central thesis, that the mystical traditions of the East constitute a coherent philosophical framework within which the most advanced Western theories of the physical world can be accommodated, has not only withstood the test of time but is even more emphatically endorsed by ongoing experimentation and research.

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