Books, Bookmarks and Bibliophiles!

Last Sunday (September 14, 2025) was the best Sunday of my life; it seems like God painted this particular page of my life with all the variety of colors He had! It was raining the day before, and Sunday morning also started with rain, but Rain God was kind to us and He spared some hours for the book launch of ‘THE LOCAL TALES’. 

I reached the park, where I am present almost every Sunday to read with ‘Pages of Panvel’, the beautiful book community, where I walked in as the first reader back in January’25, and within months, I was walking in not just as a reader but as a writer too, and that made me a little anxious and nervous all at once. 

After reading from 8 to 10 am, the usual book circle was hosted, where readers shared what they were reading, and Mumma also talked about some Hindi books that she had read. Her fluent Hindi impressed everyone, and thus, Hindi day was celebrated! Post, which Anushka Kulkarni, the founder of Pages of Panvel, handed over the dias to me. I get to speak every Sunday as a reader, but it was the first time I was going to be speaking as a writer, and suddenly I felt the pressure of it. I have been a decent public speaker right from play school. Initially, my parents wrote the speeches, poems, and dialogues for me. Later, I wrote for myself. However, today I consciously choose not to write or decide what I will speak beforehand, because I want to speak what I feel in that moment, and that cannot be scripted.

While I was speaking, all my bibliophile (a person who collects or has a great love of books) friends, my school friends, my college friends, my family and our family friends were right in front of me, and all I could see was their proud eyes, eyes that have seen me since day one to eyes that have seen me this year for the first time, it is a sight that will forever be etched in my heart!

After the speech, the book sale started, and readers showed up in good numbers to get their signed copies and a unique local tales bookmark. Some readers came just for the book launch, and the book was sold out. It feels surreal to write this, but till a day before, I was hoping that I could sell all the copies with me, and that happened in no time! So much so that many readers could not get a copy, but I will give them one once I receive the next set of copies.

I would like to thank Pages of Panvel, a reading community that made this wildest dream come true. My best friends from school (Meraj, Lisa, Sharayu, and Jaskreet) who showed up so early on a Sunday morning just to see me as an Author for the first time, and a big thanks to all those friends who were present in spirit and reached out to me through their heartfelt messages and to Kashish, who made the illustration for this blog (she was the one who made the illustrations for initial blogs too).

Extremely grateful to our family friends, More family, who celebrated 9th September, the release date, like it was my birthday, and the Mahanjan Family for the best after-launch party! 

The book has illustrations too, made by Nisha, who is a student of the JJ School of Arts. She missed the launch but made sure to meet me in the evening and presented me with a lovely note and a crochet sunflower! By the way, the book travelled overseas to Australia with Ojaswi. I would like to thank her for choosing ‘THE LOCAL TALES’ as her airplane read! Pawan also came all the way home to buy the signed copy from me, along with the best chocolate pastry and Biscoff cheesecake. I hope he finds the stories as sweet as his sweet treats! 

Special mention to Anjali, who is a powerhouse of energy behind edits on social media. She converts my ideas into reels and posts. Managing her full-time job and her passion for editing, she has worked late into the night to post on time. I just can’t thank her enough.

I would like to applaud and thank my little niece Shanvi and her parents, who made a very beautiful Instagram reel on book unboxing, which crossed almost 88k views! I also extend my thanks to both my maternal and paternal families in Aurangabad, who bought the books and motivated me with their kind words! The book also reached my birthplace, Gwalior, thanks to our relatives there.

And last but not least, a big shout-out to my dear friend Gaurav, who bought the first copy of ‘THE LOCAL TALES’ even before I put out the links. His video call after receiving the copy and what he said will forever be remembered!

This is not the end, the journey has just begun. You can join in too. Get your copy at:

📌Flipkart🛒: Take a look at this, The Local Tales on Flipkart

https://dl.flipkart.com/s/dVARVQuuuN 

📌Wissen Bookstore🛍: The Local Tales | Wissen Bookstore https://share.google/LM8Lvq4dHD3AulupO 

📌Amazon📦: https://amzn.in/d/24eqHDv 

📌Kindle📱: The Local Tales https://amzn.in/d/fM5PGFi 

📌Pages of Panvel: https://www.instagram.com/pagesofpanvel?igsh=MXU0aWJxb3FyOTFuaw== 

Happy Reading,

Siddhi Bhosale.