Atmaram Gangaram - Biography

Atmaram N. Gangaram was born in Mysore on the 26^th of September 1951. The Gangaram family had moved from Pakistan to Mysore in 1905 and started a bookstore in Mysore. Mr. Atmaram grew up in Mysore and studied there till the 3^rd grade, after which he moved to Bangalore with his father. In Bangalore, he continued his education and his father opened a printing press.

Mr. Atmaram remembers his school days and Bangalore in those days very clearly; he misses the empty roads down which he would walk every evening with his friends and visit cheap hotels where they would drink coffee, eat candy and biscuits for 20 paisa. Bangalore in those days was extremely quiet and lazy, the streets would be empty by eight in the evening and everyone would be home spending time with their families. Mr. Atmaram and his family would all drive to a hotel every Sunday for a picnic where they would drink coffee and eat dosa; this was their family tradition. By the time Mr. Atmaram was in 8^th grade he had already started working with his father in the printing press in the evenings and would attend school in the mornings. This affected his social life greatly, but it was a necessity as his family was undergoing economic strains. Work in the press was difficult and risky, as he had to work on the printing machines, which in those days were rusty and inefficient.

When Mr. Atmaram joined college he saw another side of Bangalore, by then the Hippie culture from the west had started influencing Bangalore and lots of Hippies came to Bangalore on their way back. Though his interaction with the Hippies was minimum as his family had asked him to stay away from them he was still aware of their presence and knew how they were. The Hippies in those days weren’t looked at in good light, they were people who indulged in drug abuse and were extremely distinct in their lifestyle, which distanced them from the locals. During college Mr. Atmaram went out for movies with his friends, he remembers how they had an actual wrestling fight between Dara Singh and King Kong for the release of King Kong. He misses the old Bangalore and is unhappy about how the city has turned out to be.

Mr. Atmaram was not enjoying college since the focus wasn’t on good education and he felt that it was a waste of time. He decided to quit college and started a bookstore in Ashoka Hotel, which was the only Five Star hotel in Bangalore that time. Being in that place exposed him to the elite class of India and he made friends with film stars who came to Bangalore for film shoots. His sweetest memories are with Rishi Kapoor and Dharmendra since they would all drive to Plaza Theatre on MG Road to watch a film in his red Standard Herald. Being in that circle also changed his lifestyle to a great extent. From Ashoka he moved to starting his own hotel, he worked there for a while and then sold the hotel since he didn’t see much scope there. After the hotel he decided to start a drive-in theatre where now ITC Windsor Manor is. That plan was also a fail since there was some trouble with political leaders. It was then that he decided to start another bookstore, which was the start of Gangaram’s Book Bureau.

Gangaram’s started from Majestic where he bought his first shop. The store soon became famous and he moved to MG Road. On MG Road he started selling stationary as well. His business was at its peak and Gangaram’s went on to become the most famous bookstore in all of Bangalore. Since then Mr. Atmaram has run the bookstore on MG Road until recently when he had to shift to Church Street due to hike in rent.

Looking back at his life Mr. Atmaram notices a lot of changes in his career and lifestyle. He believes that life is more than material possessions, glamour and entertainment. His love for Bangalore, those quiet empty streets, the promenade at MG Road and the cheap hotels, has long been lost. For him, this developed Bangalore is of no worth, as the people have got distant and individualistic, the roads are crowded and the hotels are all pubs. Mr. Atmaram currently stays at Indiranagar and still goes to work everyday at his bookstore. 

When asked how he has dealt with all the change he has been through in his life he says, “One should not have attachment, old things need to go to create space for new things. You should make space for new, fresh energy because that is how one grows”.

by Savyasachi