Sunday Book Bazaar - Through a Bookseller's Eyeby Neeraj Sharma
Book selling is a great opportunity in my life & it becomes automatically exciting when it is for the books which are useful, rare & affordable too, no doubt that the only Super Book Market in Delhi (could be for India or the World in future) for this kind is Sunday Book Bazaar at Daryaganj, though it is famous by the name of 'Daryaganj Book Bazaar' only but this market has successfully spreading its arms toward Asif Ali Road till Delight cinema.
My experience in this market are truly as I celebrate a Book Festival every Sunday, needless to say that the saying of OLD is GOLD comes true in this market time to time because there are unlimited, unseen, unknown category of books available in this market which sometime can be the best deal for the buyer who keep on searching their favourites.
It is not sure that every book seller knows the (true) value of the book he (or she too) is selling, but our customers are the guide who teach us the same & in the next sell we use that knowledge. One can get a good book starting from Rs. 5/- to Rs. 5000/-. However the more the quantity of the books the buyers take, the more the prices gets cheaper.
Communicating with almost each & every type of person has been the best benefit I have been getting from this market, interacting with different kind of people has helped me understanding various human characteristics which I think I could only get here in this book market & I am developing my communication skill free of cost.
Discussing throughout the day with my customers, friends & fellow book sellers is always an enrichment to my knowledge about so many subjects & issues. In other words if by any reason I have to miss a Sunday, I feel as there was no weekend or the week has not yet passed, irrespective of whatever hardwork I am putting in over there, I feel happy.
It is surprising but true that almost half of the booksellers have this book market as the only means to arrange their bread & butter, the other half is doing this business on a part time basis. People from every nook & corner of the city, country come over there to give their time to gain the value of their time in terms of earning money or knowledge whatever is their satisfaction.
People are there also who comes to this market just for chilling out & passing time though they have no intention to buy or sell the books still they give time to this market. Since the market is very close to Paharganj which a main place to stay for our foreign visitors, these foreigners are also a part of the weekly mob of this market.
There are both pleasures & pains a book seller as well as a buyer keep on experiencing the whole day as most of the time the basis of the sale is the bargaining. A deal is good when it is decided to buy/sell or not to buy/sell the book without much bargain, yes there are certain situations where the bargaining becomes so much entertaining for both the parties no matter whether the deal is done or not.
This market has some negative sides also especially for the buyers, if the vehicles are parked on roads & the owner is not near his/her vehicle, the Traffic Police Crane take the vehicle away to the Police Station & a penalty challan between a minimum of Rs. 100/- to maximum Rs. 1000/- is charged from the vehicle owner, also if sometime a person is not giving proper attentions to his/her belongings, there can be a pick pocketing, bags or cell phone loss or even a loss of their books they are carrying.
Services are not only for buying books is done here, people often come in this market to sell off their old books also. The prices may not be as good as when the books are sold off to a book seller but it is always better than to dispose off the same to local Kabariwala. Just because I do, I feel other book sellers also not only sell the books but also exchange them with their books keeping a cool marginal profit in the barter deal, books are provided on a refundable condition also or provided on rent whenever somebody ask for.
At present this market is booming with Educational, Entertainment, Specialized & Rare Books for all age group, all income group. As generally mentioned by the people that the quantity of the books is growing day by day along with the quality of the books, the book sellers are getting more understanding than before, and the crowd is also getting increased week by week no matter the weather is in cool or hot or wet.
But there might be a threat to this market for a shut down due to the implementation of another phase of Master Plan of Delhi. It would not only affect thousands of earners but also affect lakhs of people who are getting educated, civilized, competitive & successful thru books just because this market is providing a lot to masses in a very economical & optimum way which is not easy to provide thru any other alternate.
Though I believe that Nothing has an end, still ending the topic I suggest as a common citizen of Delhi & I request as as a book seller to all the people interested in books to come & enjoy the fun in Sunday Book Market & try their best to let this Enjoy be forever...
See Also Article on: Books in India – The New Age Online Purchases |
