Fashion & Travel Photography: Delhi Gate - Jama Masjid - Old Delhi - Red Fort

Statue @ Delhi Gate

Delhi Gate

Delhi Gate View

Closer view of Delhi Gate

Book Market @ Daryaganj

Old Delhi is a constellation of living artefacts, and Darya Ganj’s Old Book Bazaar is among the most interesting ones. Stretching nearly 1.5 km near Darya Ganj’s Golcha cinema, the bazaar is the only source of income for many of its 200 pavement booksellers.

According to Mr. Subhash Chand Agrawal, President, Sunday Book Bazaar Patri Welfare Association, the market has been a Sunday feature in the area for the past three decades. Not all books here are second-hand.

The sellers acquire books from different places. Many publishers, not able to sell the old editions of books, sell them to these pavement booksellers at cheaper prices. Also, loads of books remain unclaimed during transportation through trains and buses which are then auctioned by Railway and other transportation authorities. However, according to one bookseller, Farid Anwar, “books also come from distributors on Ansari Road”. Often, customers with old books lying at home come to sell them to these sellers. The sellers also sell in bulk acting as distributors themselves. Traders dealing in used books come from as far away as Hyderabad to buy their stock here

What do these book-dealers do during the rest of the week? Some of them have small bookshops while others spend the week preparing for the following Sunday. According to Mr. Agarwal, “buying books atgood prices from different sources is a time-consuming task requiring business acumen and networking skills”. During the week, they also deliver books to various individuals or other sellers within their business network.

Why would someone buy books from here? Obviously they are cheaper. Equally importantly, says Mr. Agarwal, some books which are difficult to find in usual bookstores are easily available here because they are taken off the shelves by publishers due to little demand.

As always, authorisation of the market is a messy question. On the one hand, the market is quite established and its struggle for existence and recognition seems to be long over, but on the other, each hawker still pays Rs.50 per month to the police for “protection”. This is an unofficial arrangement, confides Anwar, which keeps both the sides satisfied