New Delhi : This is definitely a different bookshop, for the simple reason that here no staff member would object if some customer starts reading a book or newspaper and does it for hours together. Actually, the staffershave standing orders from their owner not to ask anybody to leave the place. Not surprising that is the major reason why this Connaught Place-based Central News Agency (CNA) has remained the favourite place for book and newspaper lovers for the past 60-odd years or so. If CNA got such a special place in the hearts of Delhiites, it is due to the sheer vision of its octogenarian Chairman R.P. Puri.
“Due to financial reasons, I had to abandon my studies after matriculation. My plans to do higher studies never became a reality. Perhaps that is why I always tell my staffers to let the genuine reader read books in CNA as long as he wants. I developed this attitude because the poor too have a right to study and love books. It must not become the privilege of the rich,” says Puri, who started his career as a newspaper vendor some 65 years ago.
Sharp memory : Though he is 88, Puri’s memory is razor sharp. He still remembers vividly that he shifted to Delhi in 1937 from Shimla. He was living with his elder brother there. It was he who asked Puri to leave studies and be a newspaper vendor to support the family. His father passed away when he was barely eight. “I was devastated when my brother asked me to do the job instead of going to college. Later, I realised that he was not wrong.
I started the job of newspaper vendor in Shimla in 1936. I used to walk more than 40 kilometres daily to distribute the papers. As one can’t ride cycles in Shimla, vendors had to do their job on foot.” After just one year in Shimla, Puri came to Delhi in 1937. Those were the days when except for `The Statesman’, newspapers like `The Hindustan Times’, `Veer Arjun’, `Daily Milap’ used to publish from Naya Bazar. “Those days I used to get up at 3.30 in the morning and go to Mori Gate. There newspapers from Lahore like `The Tribune’ and `Civil and Military Gazette’ came in vans. After collecting their copies, I collected the copies of Delhi-based papers before coming to CP to finally collect the copies of `The Statesman’. I had one assistant even then. I distributed papers in areas close to India Gate. My assistant covered the Gole Market and Minto Road. I avoided the Gole Market and Minto Road as some of my relatives used to stay in government houses there.”
As he tasted success in his work, Puri started selling newspapers and magazines from P block. Recalling those days, he says that with this new venture he was earning well and saving too. In early 40s, Puri took some space in Gondal Press, also in P block.
He is utterly interesting grand old man of CP with mines of anecdotes. When the then President of Pakistan Parvez Mushraff had visited Delhi to take part in India Today conclave-2009, he called yours truly at his shop. Then Puri said that he used to supply newspaper at his house in Barron Road residence before 1947 in Delhi, which was allotted to his father,Mushraff-ud-in. According to Mr Puri, Mushraff’s father was a senior government servant. The house at Barron Road in Minto Road area was allotted to him by the government. “I used to spend time with him very often. He was very gentle and decent man. It is not true that Parvez used to live at Neharwali haveli. It was the house of his mother’s parents and he was born there. He spent his childhood in Barron Road,” Puri claims. Incidentally, the government flats where Musharraf’s father used to live with his family has recently been demolished so that the huge head office of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) could be constructed
No looking back : There has been no looking back since then. He became so well known in his field that when India became free, Puri got an order from both President’s House and Prime Minister to deliver daily newspapers, which CNA is doing to this date. Year 1953 was the big year for him. Puri started CNA from this very place. And the rest is history. From Radhakrishnan to Indira Gandhi and from 
Rammanohar Lohia to Khuswant Singh all have visited his place. (courtesy The Hindu)
Vivek Shukla works for a publication house as an editor and writes at various places. He can be contacted at 09818155246.
