Seventy-five years after his late grandfather set sailing the journey of Rupa in the world of publishing and book distribution on a humble note, company managing director Kapish Mehra talks of having a list of nearly 2000 book titles and “a front list that is growing by leaps and bounds.” With its present well-entrenched as the frontrunner in the mass English readership, and the future already etched on the drawing board, Rupa is indeed at a defining moment in its platinum year. But its past is equally inspiring.
Relates Kapish, “It was by accident that my grandfather got into publishing. Late K. Jackson Marshall, the India representative of Collins dictionary, noticed his salesmanship in hosiery business in Calcutta's New Market and persuaded him to sell their dictionaries.” It, however, didn't take much time for Mehra to develop a liking for books which led him to start Rupa at College Street corner, “near Presidency College and the Sanskrit School, the hub of intellect and the litterateurs” to be precise. Kapish fills in, “His first customer was Humayun Kabir, who later went on to become the Education and Culture Minister of independent India.”
Full report here Hindu
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