The perfume called BOOK

The smell of a new book, in fact the smell of a book itself has always made me go mad since childhood, It does till date. Every time I walk into a bookstore i can't keep my nose off one and the result is that I always walk out buying at least one. even though Flipkart has become my new bookstore but it's never the same just the way I feel an e-book can never replace the joy of holding the actual book in your hand.

I remember as a child I used to wait for the beginning of each year where in we would go to school a few days prior to the beginning of that session and get our books from school. oh the joy of looking at those books, smelling them and wrapping them with brown paper was always more exciting that the exams I had to eventually give thanks to those same books. I would always pounce on the books in my English course for the year and would have polished it off in a day straight. I already knew all the stories even before the year had begun and eventually yes i did get bored of the fact that i had to keep going through it again and again through the year but every time a story would end in class to go onto the next one i would look forward to that change and re - visiting it. Though the textbooks of other subjects never garnered such response from me except for smelling them, I never even opened them until the night before my exams. But the feeling would always be the same of welcoming a new book no matter what subject it was.

The obsession continues even today and thankfully today I read books because I enjoy them and not because I am forced to read them. and the fact that I can choose my own book to read also makes it more exciting. That is why a bookstore to me would never go out of fashion as that is one place that gives me ample scope to go wild with this obsession of mine :)

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flip flip with flipkart

My affair with Flipkart started about two years back. I have always been an obsessive book buyer and it wouldn't do much to my pockets by the end of it because every time i would walk into a bookstore i would definitely walk out with a book or two and i still do but to keep pace with my book buying habit and depleting account balance every month, the discovery of flipkart one fine day while browsing in office came as a welcome boon in my life. I introduced many to the website before the latest ads even came on TV recently.

I have tried many an online bookstores like Coinjoos, Landmarkonthenet, Crosswordbookstores, Indiaplaza, Infibeam but the service that i have got out of Flipkart has always made it the hero in my online purchase. My first online purchase was on flipkart and considering how till few years back ordering online was always a question mark in your head, i had finally taken the plunge with flipkart.

Since then flipkart supremacy in the book selling business has in many a ways given re - birth to the many staid and old websites of various bookstores and they all seem to now get the idea as to how flipkart has in a single handed manner changed the entire book buying business and moved a lot of people from bookstores to the online buying habit and they are therefore aggressively moving into the business as well. But having said that and having tested many of them flipkart continues to rule everyone's mind because their service is top class and the sheer length of their collection. a quick tick on the great stuff about flipkart

• The most important fact is their collection and that anything and everything that you can possibly search or look for and 9 times out of 10 will never find in your local bookstore will always be available with them. If not available you can always leave a request on their site and they very very promptly get back to you as they have it.
• They have great prices to offer. one of the first few guys to offer cash on delivery along with the regular modes of transaction.
• Upcoming launches always land on their website first before any other.
• impeccable service, never any delays in any deliveries and if any then very timely information sent to the customer.
• customer service is available, helpful, not cranky and seems to sort out issues in a very streamlined manner.
• i also happened to get a wrong book once from them and it was a little harrowing to call them many a times but they did finally after many apologies get it picked up from me and refund the money in my account so i could order the right one.

All in all for me flipkart's been like a magic wand. This in no way indicates that i have stopped going to a bookstore. Visiting a bookstore and spending time amongst books has always been one of my favourite pastime and it will remain so but yes it does help to save a hell lot of money and also play with the range of books they have.

Off late they have forayed into other categories but i do feel that it's going to be a while before they get at par in those categories compared to other websites like Indiaplaza and all which have been older and specialist websites for things like electronics, etc. But their book business is commendable.

Cheers to Flipkart and i hope you guys keep up the good work...

Image courtesy: Google