He has also begun selling old coins and newspapers dating back to a hundred years ago. You’ll be amazed to know how many people treasure such books,” he says. “I want to stop selling bestsellers and pulp fiction so that I can focus on acquiring and selling rare books that will not be re-published. He hunts for raddiwalas and people who wish to sell books in bulk, and strikes a good deal with them so that he can expand his collection of rare books. The past has also given him a secure future he finds that the antiques and old books business is an extremely profitable one. But what makes people remember me is my name, and more importantly the service I provide!” he says with a chuckle. “There are several secondhand bookshops in Matunga and all over Mumbai too. What history has done for him is made him memorable. “Hitler isn’t the world’s biggest criminal anymore people have other villains to deal with now,” he says, with a sad smile. In his opinion, what has allowed him to live without stigma is the sad truth that so many wars have been fought after World War II. He has more or less dissociated himself from the image that surrounds the Nazi leader, and has even sold books about Hitler and his political regime. When I ask him what he thinks of his namesake, he begins shaking his head and says “What he did was not right.” The bookseller prefers not to dwell on what has happened in the past. “They refuse to believe me, so now I carry my school certificate along as proof,” he says with a sigh. Trips to government offices are also an odd affair, with officials looking at him with disbelief when he tells them his name. If he bumps into a friend at a restaurant or any other public place, people are sure to turn around and stare when the friend lovingly calls out to him by his first name. He tells me about two situations where his name regularly raises eyebrows and doubt in equal measure. I expected to hear stories about negative experiences, but Hitler says that they have been so few and so far apart that they have not really affected him. History has impacted Hitler’s life in a way that most people would not imagine. They don’t get teased by classmates or friends,” he explains. “Both of my sons are fine with my name, and they don’t think I should change it. I get the feeling that Hitler is not touchy about the topic at all, because it is something he has discussed with his children too. “My wife initially felt awkward, but even she calls me Hitler at home now. Even at home, there is no shame when it comes to his name. “But they are never hostile none of them get angry or behave rudely,” he explains. Many, like this reporter, were curious to know why he has been named so. It is only when he came to Mumbai that he found people who were surprised when they learnt about his name. “Not many of my classmates were aware of who Adolf Hitler was, and those that were never teased me,” he adds. It did stand out in the family, because all of his siblings have been named after Tamil gods and goddesses, such as Murugan and Selvi, but it never had a negative connotation in his hometown Kanyakumari. To Hitler, his name has always been normal. I don’t think my father knew who Hitler was, but his name stuck in my father’s mind and he probably liked it enough to give me the same name,” says Hitler.
“Kerala was a politically charged state in the Sixties and Seventies, and there was always a discussion about politics.
His own explanation for it is that his father may have heard the German leader’s name when he worked as a vegetable vendor in Kerala. Why his name is Hitler remains a mystery.