A FEW MINUTES WALK from our hotel in BARODA (Gujarat) brings you to Patel Bookstore. The owner of this small bookshop stocks ‘pre-loved’ (not ‘secondhand’) books. Some of them are arranged on surfaces under the verandah in front of his shop and on its counter. The rest of them are on shelves and on the floor of the part of his store behind the counter. The shop has a chaotic appearance, but I am sure Mr Patel knows what he has in stock.

Mr Patel, a friendly gentleman, has a huge stock of books in English – much fiction and slightly less nonfiction. He also sells books printed in Gujarati.

The owner of the shop is happy to buy back books you have bought from him. When you make a purchase, he writes the price you paid in the book, and how much he would be prepared to buy it back when you have read it. He is also happy to buy other volumes that you wish to dispose of.

Even though I could not see many books that appealed to me, I love visiting idiosyncratic bookstores like that run by Mr Patel.