SECOND HAND KNOWLEDGE

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.