No, Pandian does not follow Insta trends that romantisise the tactility of physical books, the incredible idea of holding thoughts in your hand before dropping them into your brain. Putting it in grander terms, the sacred union of the sensory and the cerebral. He does not canonise physical books writing digital hagiographies to them and canonising them into sainthood through posts on social media handles. No book apps to his name; not a single one. In fact he does the unthinkable: he carries no phone with him. When a quizzical brow running the gamut of questions (why, how come, why not, since when?) is directed at him, his answer is unhurried and accompanied by a gesture (palms covering his head): “The mobile phone is a headache”. He says that in Tamil. Who is this “mystery man” Pandian anyway? His bio at the press of a button, nay the flipping of pages.

Seventy-five years old. Formal education ending with Class VII. A resident of Keshavaperumalpuram South in R.A. Purim. His work space is in Besant Nagar, at the cusp of Besant Avenue Road and Second Besant Avenue Road, the space lying strategically on the path to the Besant Nagar bus terminus. He is modest to a fault, caring a hoot about winning people over with appearances: his work flannels are just a banian paired with a dhoti. But he ends up winning people over with a quiet confidence, even unintended chutzpah, the courage to not bend oneself to trends. He displays all of these by holding on to what is now a 45-year-long metier and title: seller of magazines and newspapers. He has retained the visible symbol of this engagement, a newspaper and magazine mart, the eponymous ASP Newspaper Mart, stubbornly staying put in its corner despite progressively decreasing footfall. The establishment is modest: an old, pushcart painted in blue shaded from the shine and rain with a corrugated metal sheet and tarpaulin. By the side of the cart, stand two slanting paper and magazine metal racks.

The collection of magazines is as ambitious as the establishment is spartan. The Hollywood Reporter; Vogue; Conde Nast Traveller; Autocar; TopGear; Outlook Traveller; Entrepreneur; Brides Today; Frontline; Architecture + Design; Dalal Street Investment Journal and so on. There are English, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi magazines and newspapers. “After the pandemic, sales had been on a low. People who read magazines are in a decline. There are some old people are left. Gen Zs go abroad (yes, he used the descriptor Gen Z), ” states Pandian, not in a rueful tone, but in a manner that suggests dispassionate reporting. But that has not caused him to do a rethink about the business. To questions about financial viability of this enterprise, he points out he does not bother about it at all, just sells those newspapers and magazines; and a few other items (disposable razor, tongue cleaner and so) that “rats cannot get at”. And he seems to sell just enough to keep the show going. His self-identity is incredibly entangled in the notion of a newspaper seller, and he cannot disentangle himself from it without causing a dent in his self-worth.