Bengaluru: After rainwater flooded The Bookworm on Church Street on Wednesday evening, it was love and warmth wrapped in concern that flooded the store 24 hours on.Hours after heavy rain damaged more than 5,000 books, the next morning saw voluntary efforts being made to save books from further ruin. Students, regular customers, publishers and even fellow booksellers walked in — just unannounced or in response to a simple online post by the store.“I came around 9.30am and started segregating dry and wet books,” said Senthil Kumar from Srishti Publications. Along with several others, he helped carefully pack dry books for resale and lay out damp ones under the sun. “We are regulars here. It felt natural to come together.”That instinct to show up — without a nudge — was echoed throughout the day.Among the first to arrive was Ravi Menezes, owner of Goobe’s Book Republic, another store on the street. His connection to The Bookworm runs deep. “When I started my store, Krishna was the first to support me,” he said. “I’ve also lost books to rain before. I know how that feels.” Menezes joined the clean-up effort and promised to rally support and contribute creatively — through a cartoon capturing the incident — to amplify support online.Among the hundreds, Anand from Higginbothams and Keshava from Bookhive also helped Bookworm owners out.For Krishna Gowda and Uma Krishna, who have run The Bookworm for nearly three decades, the scale of response was overwhelming. What began as a pavement bookstore 29 years ago has grown into a cultural fixture, and Thursday was a reminder of the relationships built along the way.“The support has been incredible. We’ve missed so many calls and messages.” Krishna’s phone alone held more than 2,000 unread messages — each one, he said, an offer of help.“Some of our readers have suggested we do ‘a wet book fair’. It was conducted previously in Kolkata. We are considering it now if our readers support the idea,” Krishna Gowda said.Notably, the couple declined monetary donations. Instead, people offered to donate their own books for resale. Others showed up with time and effort.Some customers bought water-damaged books to offset losses. Rishwant Reddy, a patron, said, “I’ve found treasures here before — signed copies, rare editions. That’s what this place means to me.” Vivek Roy travelled from Yelahanka with a similar intent. “Buying a few wet books is the least I can do,” he said.Among the affected titles were literary and cultural gems — ‘The Penguin Book of Indian Poets’ edited by Jeet Thayil, William Dalrymple’s ‘In Xanadu’, Poornachandra Tejaswi’s ‘Jugaari Cross’, Arundhati Roy’s ‘Mother Mary Comes to Me’, Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming,’ and vintage editions like ‘The Listener’ from 1956.
