By The Book

Part private den, part archive of forgotten masterpieces, this little-known bookstore in a Gurugram mall is where collectors still go searching for treasure

- S KEERTHIVAS

The wood-panelled entrance at Chapter 101

N the first floor of South Point Mall in Gurugram, is Chapter 101, a quietly resplendent refuge for lovers of rare, classic and hard-to-find titles. Warm teak wood, dark polished panels, heavy shelving, the hush of a stately country house library this bookstore was founded in 2017 by Raju Singh, a man who seems to set a value on bygone eras, has a taste for jazz, and the comforting smell of old paper meeting fine wood.

The carefully-curated titles look beyond the bestsellers; rich leather-bound tomes are interspersed with elegant hardbacks; memoirs by Gustave Flaubert and Kingsley Amis rub shoulders with hardbound editions of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. A customer, Ishita remarks, "I've never seen a bookstore like this - the classics collection alone made me stay for hours."