“Generations of book-lovers not only bought and read, but also gifted Lokmilap books and booklets. The pocket editions then diversified into a ready reckoner of famous quotes, condensed biographies and abridged versions of larger books, priced at 50 paise to a rupee (and currently updated to Rs 5). They were so popular that Lokmilap sold lakhs of them. The works of 40 Gujarati poets, such as Ramesh Parekh, Umashankar Joshi, Ushnas, Suresh Dalal and Harishankar Dave, were anthologised in these “kavya kodiya (lamps of poetry)” editions, each running into about 30 pages. “These books fit into your pocket, size-wise and cost-wise, too,” he says, chuckling. So, we selected simple poems, which could be understood by a layman, and made pocketbooks of them,” says Meghani. We also realised that many poems are difficult to understand. “We realised that poems are not being read much. To make poetry more accessible, Lokmilap also introduced the concept of khissa pothi or pocket books. The 96-year-old calls his work “punya no vepar” (business of righteousness). “It was so successful that many other publishers also started doing it,” says Meghani, who has earned the sobriquet of “Granth na Gandhi” (Gandhi of Books) in Gujarat. The bookstore began an “advance customer scheme”, where an upcoming book was sold at nearly 50 per cent discount for early birds. To get Gujaratis to read was a challenge, says Meghani as were the high prices of books.
Lokmilap published more than 200 books in Gujarati, many of them abridged and translated versions of Indian and foreign classics. The magazine led to the publishing house. He returned home, and launched Milap, a Gujarati magazine modelled on Reader’s Digest. It all began in the US, when Meghani went to do a journalism course at Columbia University between 19.
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