T. S. Shanbhag (2 May 19374 May 2021) was an Indian bookseller who was the owner of Bangalore's famous Premier Bookshop.

Early life

Shanbhag was born on 2 May 1937 in

Kundapur Kundapra, officially Kundapura, is a town in the Udupi district of Karnataka state in India. This town was known as Coondapoor when it was part of the erstwhile South Canara district (1862–1947) of the Madras Presidency of British India. Pr ...

in modern day coastal Karnataka. He started his career working at his uncle's book store, Strand Book Stall, in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

after completion of his

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

. During this time he completed his post graduate degree in economics from the

Bombay University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

. After ten years in the city, he moved to Bangalore when his uncle started a book club, Strand Book Club, in partnership with a publisher.

Career

Shanbhag started Premier Bookshop in the city in 1971 at the site of a burned-down clothing store. The bookshop became an iconic landmark in the city and was considered a go-to location for academic books and other books that were considered hard to procure. The book store, which was located in the city's Church Street near M. G. Road, closed down in 2009, unable to keep up with the increase in rents in the region. The book store was known for its chaotic arrangement with piles of books stacked up and Shanbhag navigating the setup and making recommendations for the customers. At the time of its closure the bookstore had a collection of over 500,000 books, most of which were disposed of at steep discounts and others donated to local libraries. A retrospective of his career, "Walk down memory lane with Shanbhag", was organized in 2016. Referred to as Shanbhag Uncle by the younger generation, he was credited with getting an entire generation of young Bangaloreans to read. Some of his patrons included historian

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history. He is an important autho ...

, actor

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

, playwright

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

, historian

Janaki Nair Janaki may refer to: People * Janaki Amma (1920–2005), Indian judge of the Kerala High Court * Janaki Ammal (1897–1984), Indian botanist * Janaki Ballabh (1928–2022), Indian sinologist and translator * Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (1927–2015), ...

, author U. R. Ananthamurthy, restaurateur Prem Koshy and politician

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Defence (India), Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, h ...

Personal life

Shanbhag was married and had a daughter, and lived in the Basaveshwaranagar neighborhood in West Bangalore. He died on 4 May 2021 from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. He was aged 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanbhag, T. S. 1937 births 2021 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India Indian book publishers (people) University of Mumbai alumni People from Bengaluru People from Udupi district