Feb 22, 1999

New Age publishing finds a growing market as stressed-out readers seek instant karma.

By Sheela Raval

When Alif Surti broke off with his "soul mate" he contemplated all the things a 17-year-old could do when love goes sour. Coming across an Osho book, he decided to try what Richard Bach advised readers in Illusions: "When in doubt, pick up any book and open it randomly. The line that catches your eye will have the answer you need." For Surti the answer lay in: "Forget the past -- all the money in the world cannot bring it back ... She has as much right to enjoy her freedom as you have to enjoy yours."

Today, Surti is still on in his spiritual quest. Among his companions in the journey are Nisargadatta Maharaj's I Am That, a compilation of 101 conversations with the renowned Upanishadic seer. "I call it my Bible," says Surti, "it has changed my life. One can read it the nth time and yet discover it anew."

In the age of fast food, wisdom books are the instant solution to the existential problems of this generation. Saumil Guha, 22, a management student has gulped down 90 such books in just two years. Pop spiritual bestsellers, he believes, can polish the body, mind and emotions.

It's all there in the new breed of self-help, feel-good, do-it-yourself books. How to think positive, how to develop a personality, how to improve social skills, how to cope with stress. Over the past two years, the top 10 non-fiction bestsellers' list at Crossword, Mumbai's largest bookstore, has been dominated by the so-called inspirational books. Says R. Shriram, CEO, Crossword: "Self-improvement books are selling like never before." Confirms T.N. Shanbag, owner of Strand, the oldest bookshop in Mumbai: "This segment is growing by 20 per cent every year." The reader profile has also changed with more individual buyers coming in as against the purely institutional buyers of the past.

The demand for such "alternative literature" is also rousing the commercial instincts of publishers. While some reprint titles by renowned Indian philosophers like Aurobindo, Vivekananda and J. Krishnamurti, others have diversified into self-improvement books. Jaico has a whole range of auto-therapy manuals: The Key to Great Leadership, Nine Most Powerful Ways to Improve Your People Skills, How to be Self-Confident. Says R.S. Sharma, chief editor, Jaico: "The books are targeted at students seeking to build a career in this competitive world."

Delhi-based Full Circle was launched in February 1997 and has already published 100 titles, with "print runs varying from 2,000 to 20,000". Publisher Poonam Malhotra has a clever retort to questions on the future: "The market is growing in direct proportion to the chaos, crime and gore around us."

Word, a Pune bookshop that started with merely 30 titles three years ago, now stocks only spiritual books. It has 6,000 titles at any given time and over 9,000 clients on its mailing list. Says proprietor Ajay Jain: "The quest for simple solutions in life has opened up a new hunger for wisdom books." Delhi-based Think Inc was a publisher of management books before diversifying into self-development in 1997. Says Promod Batra, the management consultant behind Think Inc: "HRD is a new buzzword in India. Books which are easy to read and informative are popular."

In a sense self-help books, now appearing in regional languages too, represent the ancillary industry spawned by urban stress. Says Suma Varughese, who heads the Mumbai office of Life Positive, India's first body and spirit magazine: "It's the beginning of a movement towards a more holistic, integrated, spirit-oriented lifestyle." That may be the future. For the moment though literary counselling is the new post-modernist sensation in town.

© Living Media India Ltd