Delhiwale: That long river of books

Daryaganj's Sunday Book Bazar, a cherished Delhi institution, recently hosted a heritage tour, showcasing its rich history and diverse book offerings.

The mile-long pathway would be covered with beautiful hardbounds of Salman Rushdies, Jane Austens, and Norton poetry anthologies. And with hundreds of other books by other authors. But when one would bend down to pick a book from this writers-filled pave, there was always a risk of pickpocket’s fingers reaching out for one’s pants’ pocket.

Daryaganj’s Sunday Book Bazar. Some years ago, the weekly market moved to the exhibition ground of Mahila Haat. (HT)

Such was Daryaganj’s Sunday Book Bazar. Some years ago, the weekly market moved to the exhibition ground of Mahila Haat, close to the market’s old site. Last Sunday, something unusual happened in the book bazar—a heritage tour was conducted through its landmarks present and past, led by a renowned city walking guide expert, along with a scholar who had done a PhD thesis on aspects of the market. The event lends a legitimacy to the bazar as a site of heritage. Frequented every week by thousands of citizens, the Sunday Book Bazar indeed is an institution as necessary to Delhi as the Mehrauli Archaeological Complex. To substantiate the assertion, this page shall routinely chronicle the bazar’s multifaceted character. Starting with its history.

The bazar has 200 stalls. One version of its past emerged after chatting with four booksellers. 60 years ago, a “kabadi bazar” of used clothes etc. was held every Sunday on a Walled City pathway. In 1964, three men joined the market, setting up stalls of used books outside Kasturba Gandhi Maternity Hospital. Five years later, the kabadi bazar was moved to “Red Fort’s backside.” Within months, one of the three booksellers shifted his Sunday stall to a more accessible Daryaganj, under the Lohe Walla Pul, the iron foot overbridge, dismantled some years ago. Over a succession of Sundays, the enterprising Kuldeep Nanda was joined by others. For six straight days, these men would trawl across the city on their scooters, acquiring discarded books from neighbourhood recyclers. On the seventh day (Sunday!), those rescued books would surface at the Daryaganj pave.

Initially, only a few passersby would stop to check the bookstalls. Some became Sunday regulars, who would gush to their friends on the low prices and the wide varieties of books being sold in those stalls. The market gradually added more booksellers. The stretch first extended from the Lohe Walla Pul to Golcha Cinema; then to the Telephone Exchange, near Dilli Gate; then to Hotel Broadway. It finally stretched out to Delite Cinema.

In 2019, the book bazar shifted to its current location, marking the end of an era. The photo above is of a market stall on the old site, snapped one Sunday during the winter season; it shows bookseller Surinder Singh. He doesn’t sit at Mahila Haat. He now has his own shop of used books in Daryaganj, open seven days a week.