Cautious optimism looms at relocated Daryaganj Sunday book market
DELHI: Jiya Lal was hurriedly putting his stock of books in a sack even as most of the vendors around him were still arranging their books in slots allotted to them. Lal’s stock of Hindi pulp fiction, novels by the likes of best-selling authors Surendra Mohan Pathak and Ved Prakash Sharma, had been sold off. He had to pack and dispatch the stock to the buyer at the earliest.
As vendors would tell us, such early fortunes are rare at the “Daryaganj” Sunday book bazaar, now being held at Mahila Haat after a gap of over two months. Despite his pulp-fiction’s stock being sold off early in the day, Jiya Lal was not overenthusiastic. He complained sales had fallen.
“Since we moved here, footfall and sales have fallen, and we have to pay more in rent and transport,” said Lal, who has been in the trade for 20 years.
The Daryaganj Sunday Patri Kitab Bazaar, as it was earlier known known, has now been relocated to Mahila Haat, near Delhi Gate Metro Station, after the Delhi High Court led to its closure at the previous location.
The rent per day at Mahila Haat is Rs 180 as against Rs 15 when they would put up their stock on the streets — patri.
Vendors now have to strictly put up their books in their allotted slots. This has led to some confusion and disgruntlement as well, as now it’s only a books-only market and those who previously sold stationary are now at a loss. They face fine and eviction if found selling stationary instead of books.
Regarding the relocation, Kanupriya Dhingra, a University of London researcher studying the market, wrote in Scroll, “Especially peculiar to this [Daryaganj] book bazaar was its structure of a street market, where it grew organically. The most recent relocation [to Mahila Haat] implies not just a dynamic physiognomic change, but also implies a cultural shift. From being a heritage Patri Kitaab bazaar, it is now a “haat”, a book-market.”
Vendors had mixed opinions regarding relocation. While they broadly accepted there were some positives, such as a cleaner and a safer area, all of them lamented a decline in footfall.
Santosh Gupta, 32, who has been selling books at the market since 2000, said the biggest drawback of the new location was that they no longer had who he called “casual buyers”.
He said, “Previously, people casually going about their lives would spot our books and they would buy from us, but now since we are no longer on the street in their midst and are here at an exclusive marketplace, there are no such casual buyers. This has affected our sales.”
Despite the slowdown, Santosh expected sales to pick up.
He said, “We have just started here and I believe more people will start coming as they come to know of the place. The trade will go up.”
Qamar Saeed, the former president of the Daryaganj Sunday Book Bazaar Welfare Association, and one of the senior-most vendors, looked mostly at the brighter side. He highlighted that their new location has lawns for people to relax and toilets for their convenience.
He said, “One would not know there [the previous location] whether the person behind them is just another customer or a thief. It’s no longer the case. Since it’s now an exclusive marketplace, only buyers are found here.”
As for the culture and heritage attached with the market, he said, “It was called a heritage market. Some people are now saying that the heritage has been destroyed [with the relocation] but heritage doesn’t go away just like that.
“They are changing the names of all these historical cities in India, but does it mean that it destroys their value? The heritage is this place’s story, it’s our story. It will not go away just like that.”
Longtime readers, though, are not sure if the new market would be the same for them.
Radhika Varma, a law student, said, “I bought all of my Harry Potter books from the Daryaganj market. I used to be a frequent visitor there until I moved out of the city for college. I look forward to see if the new market holds the same charm.”
For some, the patri bazaar was not just about books. It was an entire ecosystem of books and the charm of the Walled City.
Dinesh Chaturvedi, a history graduate and a bazaar’s regular, said, “The relocation at first came off as a disappointment. It’s not just about books, but about the entire charm of the Old Delhi — the cheap street food and those abstract vibes. Now there are books here [at Mahila Haat] but not that Old City charm.”
Despite this, Chaturvedi was hopeful. He said, “It’s still there in Purani Dilli, so both readers and vendors may get used to it in a while. Also, if the setup comes out to be better organised at Mahila Haat, with public conveniences and food stalls, the change may be for the good.”
Madhur Sharma is a journalism student at IIMC Delhi and a history graduate from the Delhi University. He tweets at @madhur_mrt.
All photos with the stories belong to Madhur Sharma.
