Indulekha.com has been making my life easier. They are the amazon.com for Malayalam books. However, it works a little different from the usual amazon experience.
- You identify the books you want to buy. You can do that from Indulekha site or DC Books site or referrals from friends.
- List the books in an email and send it to the Indulekha customer support: support@indulekha.com
- They will identify the books that they can get and will email you the price and total cost including shipping. Shipping in India is free if the order is for more than Rs. 1000. They can do the shipping to other countries too, but note that the shipping cost will be more than the cost of the books.
- There are many different payment options. The payment option I prefer is online payment from my NRI account to the Indulekha account (South Indian bank, Kottayam).
- Once they receive the payment, usually, in a day or two, they will send the books by registered mail to the address in India. I usually give my sister's address so that she can either keep the books for me until my next Kerala trip or send it over here through someone visiting Kerala one or two books at a time. (You shouldn't ask someone to carry a bag full of books from India to the U.S. for you, unless you are ready to end that friendship. :))
By the way, the Indulekha site has movie reviews, that I found useful too. Now, I can decide what movies to avoid when I go to Shivam or Malabar to rent one.
Give Indulekha.com a try, especially if you have the habit of book store visiting during your Kerala vacations. You will save time and the hazzle of local travel.