Just Walking Around

Wheeler the world of books….

For a person like me who is constantly travelling the lengths and breadths of India and sometimes abroad due to my Software Sales profession my constant companion is my travel bag and my Kindle or the Kindle app on my Mobile. It’s the only support in case of delayed flights at the Airport lounges or during the yawning waits at Railway station waiting rooms. It’s the best use of time to catch up on reading through all the chaos swirling around. Instead of getting agitated and all stressed out on the delays. I always keep a book handy in my hand baggage or the Laptop bag-pack as means to de-stress.

Thumbing through the pages of the latest paperback take my mind away from the urge of constantly being connected over Whatsapp, Facebook or Instagram . And the best thing is you don’t have to feel frustrated over the slow speed of WiFi or mobile data and the constant scare of your mobile battery getting discharged to zero. All you need is well light and a good cozy spot in the lounge or the waiting room and a clear view of the Flight Status display or the Train arrival rolling display to take the right decision to move to the departure area / correct platform to catch the next flight or train to your next destination. The in between time is spent in a mystical word of words enjoying a fast paced action Thriller like “Inferno” or a detective novel like “Murder on the Orient Express” or the action packed mythological thriller like Oath of the Vayuputras or Sita the Warrior Princess. Each one bring joy and containment as you read along. When I am out of stock for the books that I carry or have forgotten to pack a novel the one thing that comes to my rescue are those A.H Wheeler book stalls on the ubiquitous Indian Railway platforms. These small but well stocked stalls are present on almost all the railway platforms across India . You will find them even in the remotes station in India. Manned by a single person dishing out everything from News paper to magazines to year books, Cook books, latest English paperbacks to self help books and books in Hindi and other local regional languages. You will find a Wings of Fire by the late APJ Abdul Kalam sharing space with a  Amish Tripathi’s “:Immortals of Meluha” and jostling for space with a racy Hindi horror book like “Khooni Aatma” or even a coffe table book on the Tastes and Flavours of India.

But did you know how these unique book stalls mushroomed on these lazy Indian Railway platforms. A. H. Wheeler or simply Wheeler, is an entirely Indian owned company. It owns a bookstore chain that was co-founded by Emile Moreau, a French businessman, T. K. Banerjee, an Indianbusinessman and others in Allahabad in 1877, operating from railway stations

A. H. Wheeler borrowed its name from the then-successful London bookstore and its owner, "Arthur Henry Wheelers", who was also a friend of Emile Moreau and helped him financially.

At a time when booksellers every where appear to be threatened lot, the life of Emile Edouard Moreau who set up A H Wheeler & Co, the chain of railway bookstalls that endure to this day ,appears as a fascinating example of a man with interests that spanned continents , and yet about whom there remains much that is mysterious.

In 1877 , when he was a young man of around 20, Moreau set up what would be the 1^st of the A H Wheeler bookstalls at the Allahbad Railway Station. The East Indian Railways, which had commenced operations from Calcutta northward in 1854, was then expanding its operations from Allahbad to north India. The line from Allahabad to Jabalpur had already been constructed in 1867 and so far the first time Calcutta & Bombay were connected by rail via these two cities.

Moreau was at that time a young employee of the managing agency Bird & Company in Allahabad. Moreau’s familiarity with the railway station at Allahabad , where he lived , meant that he soon noticed the demand for reading material , especially from the first class passengers. As the story goes when a friend of his , AH Wheeler concluded that he had way too much books in his home library, Moreau decided to sell them from a wooden Almirah at the station.

Encouraged by the response he got , he set up a few others the A H Wheeler & Co (named after his friend) , in Allahabad. In late 1880’s A H Wheeler & Co found fame and controversy in equal measures. Moreau develoed bigger plans and decisded to become a publishing house. The Railways had expanded and Wheeler’s bookstalls a familiar feature at Railway Stations across the United Province ( the erstwhile combined state of Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand which included the princely states of Agra and Awadh) , the North Wester Provinces and beyond in the first decade of its existence.

In 1888 still in Allahabad , Moreau made a business proposal to Rudiyard Kipling ( author of Jungle Book ) who was a writer for The Pioneer and also the Civil & Military Gazette or CMG (newspapers published out of the city). Kipling’s 1^st novel  a collections of his short stories called The Plain Tales from The Hills, had already been published by the Calcutta –based Thacker and Spinl & co. It was Moreau who offered to publish his stories in book form.

Over next few years several of Kipling’s early novels formed part of Wheeler’s Indian Railways Library Series. The other books beginning with Soldiers Three were “Wee Willie Winkie” , “Under the Deodars”, “The Story of the Gadsby”,In Black & White , The Phantom Rickshaw and the other Eerie Tales , which has the famous story , The Man who would be King. These were sold for a princely sum of One Rupee.

When Rudyard Kipling reached London he found more fame than he had bargained for. Moreau had sent copies of the Indian Railway Library Series publications to the British firm Sampson Low, whose editor Andre Lang saw huge potential in these stories.

Soon the agreement betweek Wheler’s and Kipling was to be reworked all publicationrights Wheeler’s had on Kipling’s work outside India were sold back to him , Wheeler’s continued to retain the Indian rights. In his memoirs, Kipling apparently mentioned his early encounter with Moreau, describing him as someone who “came of an imaginative race , used to taking chances”

Once World War I began , Moreau found himself greatly in demand by the Britis Government , especially by the Ministry of Mutinies under which the Propaganda department functioned.Britain’s war propaganda department was set up only after realization of the efficacy of the German Propaganda department .Moreau’s knowledge & experience of the East made him indispensableand it was Edward E Long the Chief of Eastern Propoganda who collaborated with Wheeler’s to dessminate information during War time.

By June of 1915 the department had distributed 2.5 million books in atleast 17 languages. In particular the Bryce Report written around this time relating to German atrocities on Belgian citizens in late 1914 was translated into 30 languages.

Towards the end of World War I in 1917 A H Wheeler split into 2 distinct branches with Arthur H Wheeler & Co operating in London and A H Wheeler & Co in India. Moreau however had numerous other interest. He travelled widely and servered as Director of Companies with interests in Rubber in Java and oil in Malay States.

Little is known of his family life but he remained devoted to his institute Framlingham College till his death in 1937. He was a generous individual benefactor – instrumental in setting up sports facilities for its students and instituting scholarships that carry his name and are provided to this day.

These A H Wheeler book stalls on India Railway platforms,a legacy inherited from the British Raj but one which keeps the written word alive and kicking in today’s day age of the Digital revolution…

So next time if your train is late and you find yourself waiting in the AC Waiting Rooms leave those power hungry Smart phones. Instead of checking your Facebook, head down the platform to the nearest Wheeler and pick up a paperback and emerse your self in the mesmerising world of words.

Happy Reading…