In an age when one reads books on the iPad or any of the other eBook readers, it is hard to imagine that there still are several bookstalls on the streets of major cities in India.
Purchasingbooks on the streets has been the favorite pastime of most people but little isknown about those unnamed sellers who probably have never seen the face of auniversity of even high school.
Inmost major markets of New Delhi, one can find tiny stalls that sell dusty andold books, which once were every book lover's staple. With the advent of eBooksand up-market bookstores where one can read books even without purchasing,the market for these second hand books is dwindling. Mostof these book sellers in Delhi are immigrants from Bihar and U.P whoeke out a living on the profits they earn after selling dog-earedbooks they find in other wholesale markets of New Delhi and other cities.
JeetendrKumar, a book seller in a South Delhi's New FriendsColony market arrived in the city from Patna, Bihar eight years ago. Thebusiness then, was not as bad as it is today, he says. Hepurchases his books from College Street in Calcutta and sells them for a profitin Delhi. In the last couple of years, Jeetendr has not been able to sellenough books to sustain himself and he naively blames it on 'rising costs'.
Whenenquired about what he thinks could be the reason behind falling sales,he insists "People cannot afford books anymore, as theliving costs have increased. I probably will have to look for an alternativesource of income to sustain myself". Curiously, he has never heard abouteBook readers nor does he know that up-market book stalls allow its customersto read books without purchasing them.
SamuelNoronha, a student of English literature in a Delhi college rolls his eyes atthe idea of purchasing second hand books on the street. "I wouldnever spend money on books and why must anyone? Onecan always download most books on the Internet and convert them to eBookformats. If you do not like to read them on an electronic screen, one canalways print without spending a lot of money on dusty and dog-earedbooks".
Probably,the charm of buying dusty and used books off the streets no longerexists and things are changing for the better, for book lovers. People likeJeetendr on the other hand will have to look for alternate sources of income.
