Delhiwale: Old wine in a new bottle

Sunday Book Bazaar tries to get normal in new times, with a new address.

People change but their essentials remain the same. Same with places.

The bazaar shifted to Mahila Haat, an exhibition space across the road from Delite Cinema, the very landmark from where the bazaar used to start. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

For decades, the second-hand Sunday Book Bazaar functioned from the pavements of Old Delhi’s Daryaganj. Then, more than a year ago, the court ordered its removal for the sake of obstruction-free traffic. The bazaar shifted to Mahila Haat, an exhibition space across the road from Delite Cinema, the very landmark from where the bazaar used to start.

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The market didn’t get much time to get used to its new home. A few weeks later, the coronavirus wrecked the world. Eventually the Sunday bazaar reopened after successive lockdowns, but as a pale shadow of its self. For one thing, it would start only at 4pm, and wrap up in a few hours. It’s been only a month since the market started to operate every Sunday from morning to evening, though with lesser booksellers and lesser crowds.

The Mahila Haat is built above an underground parking area, and is an unsatisfactory setting for a much-loved destination. In the old bazaar, the books were laid along a mile-long pavement. The great joy was to stroll along the lane, dodging the traffic on the right and fellow booklovers (and pickpockets) on the left, while stopping by one’s favourite stalls. There were eateries for quick bites. Here in Mahila Haat, the sellers are crammed within a limited space and one seems to walk about in rounds, like a donkey in circles.

But gradually the disappointment fades, as books start to catch your attention. You start bargaining with the sellers. Then there’s the happiness of a successful acquisition, in exchange of an amount of money you know in your heart is minuscule compared to the book’s true value.

Like in its old location, the bazaar has priceless editions on sale this Sunday too —a collection of Churchill’s war writing, a first-edition UK hardbound of Nehru’ Discovery of India (already sold). Mushtaq Khan’s stall has a 19th century edition of poet PB Shelly’s prose work, bound in black leather.

Some of the charm of olden times has survived—like booksellers lounging beside their stacks of books, using bundles as pillows.

As you spend more time, you’ll spot food hawkers. Plus, a garden to sit and lounge—something that wasn’t there in the old market.

Soon a day shall come when we will have forgotten what the old bazaar was like. The present version will make new memories in the new normal.