The good quality printed book copy that I got yesterday (5th May 2018) evening seems to be my Pothi.com order!

Last updated on 7th May 2018

This post follows up on my recent post: Got two separate Soft Cover binding iami1 blog book copies from Mumbai based big printer and Delhi online printer, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/05/got-two-separate-soft-cover-binding.html.

The package that I received yesterday evening had a 'CHALLAN' (invoice or kind of invoice) from the Mumbai based big printer company [I prefer not to mention their name as of now] that I had directly contacted some days earlier to inquire about printing 25 copies with them. I got the impression that those direct printing discussions fell through as their minimum order was 50 copies. I still asked them for a quote for 50 copies but perhaps the marketing person felt it was not worth the bother of providing me a quote.

I did not find the name 'Pothi.com' in the 'CHALLAN' or anywhere else in the package. And as I saw the name of the Mumbai based big printer company I had contacted earlier as the source/issuer of the CHALLAN, I naturally jumped to the conclusion that this Mumbai printer company had decided to send me a complimentary copy! As of now at least, I can't find fault with me for jumping to that conclusion!

Now I had had a quick glance at a name in the CHALLAN - Mudranik Technologies Pvt. Ltd. with a Bangalore address. I thought that must be a branch office/printer that the Mumbai based big printer had used to print and bind the book and dispatch it to me. My name and address came under the 'To be delivered at' column.

Today I browsed the Net on Mudranik Bangalore and came across an article or two which linked Mudranik company to Pothi.com! From https://www.prlog.org/10141726-print-on-demand-titles-come-to-bangalore-book-festival.html, Nov. 15th 2008, "Pothi.com is owned and operated by Mudranik Technologies Private Limited, a Bangalore based start-up by two IIT Kanpur alumni. It provides print-on-demand, short run printing, pre-publication services and e-commerce store for self publishing authors."

So I looked more closely at the 'CHALLAN'. Mudranik Bangalore company was listed as the "Client"! The Mumbai based big printer company was the printer for Mudranik OR Pothi.com with my name and address being the delivery point! Initially I had thought it was the other way around as the name Mudranik was new to me.

The order number on the 'CHALLAN' is not my order number at Pothi.com. But part of the title of the book printed on 'CHALLAN' - 'The Ultimate Existential Reality Answer: Ve' (truncated title is printed) - matches my order at Pothi.com. I did wonder yesterday itself, about this part of the book title on the CHALLAN as I was not sure whether I had mentioned this title to the Mumbai big printer in my communications with them. But I did not pay much attention to it as I could not see the name, 'Pothi.com' anywhere on the 'CHALLAN'!

The Pothi.com order tracking system shows my order as under 'Processing'. As today is Sunday, perhaps there was no update. Tomorrow if they update the order as delivered then it will confirm that it was Pothi.com through its parent company, Mudranik, that got the Mumbai based big printer company to print, bind and deliver my single copy order.

If I have understood the arrangement correctly then I think that it is a good one for me. Pothi.com allows me to order smaller number of copies as per my need. As Pothi.com may be providing the Mumbai based big printer a lot of business volume for printing the various books they publish, the printer is willing to print small number of copies for Pothi.com (but not for other unknown customers like me when I contacted them directly earlier on).
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7th May 2018 Update: This book copy was printed by the large Mumbai based printer company as an order from  Pothi.com! Pothi.com confirmed to me today that this book copy was delivery of my Pothi.com order.