Treasure Hunt

All my friends ask me where The Story-Catcher is available, all the time. I know how easily it’s available online, and I tell everyone to buy it online. But I’ve wanted to know for a while where it is actually available so that people can go to a store and pay for it at the counter (and so that I can take a picture and prove to myself that a childhood dream has really come true).

So yesterday, a very dear friend and I went on a treasure hunt for my book. It’s the most fabulous experience of my life because I tried so hard to spot my book amongst all those haphazardly lined on the shelves. I had a list from my publisher and we went to Pune’s famous Appa Balwant Chowk, hunting, hunting, hunting.

We went first to Venus Traders. Running up and down looking for a book in a place that does not have a catalogue is far more exciting than I could ever have imagined. My book was not there.
This building up of excitement may sound like I’m writing a second-rate detective novel, but truly, the adrenalin rush was far higher than anything I’ve experienced.

We hunted for a few other stores that we could not find, and suddenly, peeping out at us was a store on my list – Saraswati Book Agency. Excitedly, we went into a tiny, crowded shop. Diffidently, we asked if they had any story-books for children in English, particularly one called The Story-Catcher. They had no clue. My heart beating as if I was about to find the world’s greatest treasure, I searched the shelves. I found several by my publisher.

And then, my friend won the hunt. There it was, my book in the store, among all the hundreds of books.

Now, I feel like a published writer.

Who cares if no one knows Saraswati Book Agency? Who cares if the people there don’t know or care that my book exists? Now, I know the truth.