Open Heart Surgeon

When surgeon, lecturer and author Sharad Paul first approached Auckland's prestigious Rialto Centre to rent space for a café-bookshop, the managers were far from convinced. Renting to someone with no retail or catering experience seemed unduly risky. But after a year of persistence and persuasion, Paul's vision finally won them over, and the result is Baci Lounge (a name derived from "books, art, coffee inc."), www.baci.co.nz. The fashionably designed space is now a hub for Auckland's literati — a place to shop for unusual reading and to enjoy good wine, food and coffee (the latter given free with every book purchase).

Characterized by lustrous deep-red décor (apt, as baci means kisses in Italian), the shop is run by young writer types and boasts comfy tables and booths hidden among bookshelves, creating secluded spaces to wile away the hours. The diverse range of literature, which Paul describes as one "for real booklovers to come and discover," includes many works relating to India, where Paul grew up. Among them is Paul's own novel Cool Cut, which tells the story of three kite-flying friends in Chennai, delves into the politics of the Tamil community and examines the shadowy world of eunuchs. A second novel, set in Tibet, is with publishers.

Of course, Baci and writing are mere hobbies for this 41-year-old physician. "Mostly I'm 'head down, bum up,' as they say in New Zealand," he chuckles. "I'm just busy." This hasn't curbed his ambitions, though. During a promotional tour of India for Cool Cut, he noticed "people reading voraciously," and an absence of palatable java. "I couldn't get a decent coffee the whole time I was there," Paul says. "I thought, We need to go there." Within a few years, he hopes to expand Baci into big Indian cities and channel a portion of the profits into literacy programs. It's one way to guarantee a future generation of customers.