Loss of identity
ANTARA DAS
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College Street, Kolkata, is famous the world over for second-hand books. Soon, it is going to look different.
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Photo: A. Roy Chowdhury
Distinct ambience: The book shops on College Street.
FOR the last 35 years of his life, Ghous Muhhamad, 55, has come to rely on the roving eye. As he whiles away the idle hours, nestled between the stern but decrepit granddames and the youthful charms of the new wares on the block, he is confident that there will be more than one passer-by who will stray from the straight and narrow path towards the catch he has to offer.
All's not well
But of late, all is not well in the life of Ghous Muhhamad, who can trace his family trade in second-hand books on Kolkata's College Street — informally known as boi para or "a neighbourhood of books"— back to five generations. The rumblings of a not-so-distant thunder from the premises of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has made it known that the owners of the small kiosks that dot this narrow stretch of road will soon have to relocate from their roadside shops to an exclusive book mall which will be built in the nearby Marquis Square.
The traders, needless to say, are not convinced. The place thrives on the casual passer-by, who might chance upon a title he has been coveting for a long time but did not make that extra effort to seek out. The area is also home to several academic institutions — Presidency College, Calcutta University and the Calcutta Medical College being some of the more renowned — and for the students, academics as well as booklovers, the availability of rare editions at throwaway prices act as a godsend. Cloistered in an artificial space and devoid of the public display of their wares, they will also not be able to attract this crucial segment of their clientele, they feel.
"One must remember that it is we, the small stall owners, who had introduced discounts ranging from 40 to 49 per cent," says Ghous Muhhamad. "The big book shops, owned by the established publishing houses, will never offer more than 10 per cent," he adds. Relocation to the mall would imply greater maintenance costs, which, coupled with the pressure to maintain the profit margin, would drastically reduce the tempting discount rates that had earned the area the epithet of being a book lover's paradise.
For KMC, which plans to dismantle the old market and build a new one on a public-private partnership model, the College Street book market has no added significance. "The old market originally comprised vegetable sellers, along with shops selling shoes and clothes," says Bikashranjan Bhattacharjee, Mayor, KMC. "The book sellers are nothing but hawkers who hold licenses issued by the Corporation," he adds, "They will be provided a suitable place in the renovated market, as the KMC has a welfare attitude to development."
Painful transition
The shift, however, is highly unlikely to be an effortless transition between two physical locations. While about 1,200 traders had collected their licenses from the previous dispensation at KMC, around 60 to 65 traders, including Ghous Muhhamad, had not done the same. Their efforts to secure their papers rather late in the day is proving to be a frustrating exercise, unable as they are to secure the cooperation of the KMC officials anymore.
With December 10, the tentative deadline for their eviction, fast approaching, Ghous Muhhamad and his companions have no alternate plans to fall back upon. "The book mall will only become a repository of school text books and technical books," he says. Another trader from the shop next to his rues the loss of distinct identity that made College Street a household name for book lovers the world over. Thus the eternal debate over the ways and means of development rage between contending parties, but for those who have sullied their hands here while thumbing through the dusty tomes, there will be a corner of their mind that will forever belong to College Street.
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