THE BAZAAR OF DARYAGANJ GETS A NEW IDENTITY

Delhi’s Daryaganj has been a prominent location for bibliophiles, collectors and food enthusiasts for years. A special culture developed in the Sunday Book Market. However, this particular book market got a new identity when it relocated to Mahila Haat.

Daryaganj’s Sunday Book Market. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Every Sunday, the lanes of Daryaganj prepare themselves to welcome hoards of book readers, collectors, food enthusiasts to shop in one of Delhi’s famous book markets. The steaming cup of chai while browsing through fiction, non-fiction, thriller, mystery. These books are sold at the minimum price or even per kilo basis is the favourite destination for all the bibliophiles.

Initially known as Faiz Bazaar, the history of the Daryaganj book market dates back to the Mughal Era when Old Delhi was known by the name of Shahjahanabad.

The landscape of this particular area portrayed the lavish lifestyle of the Mughals, with houses on both the sides of the street, horse-drawn carriages marking the landscape and people strolling through the gardens.

Over the years, this place became a living recollection of the Mughal era and the British colonial rule that it survived and turned out to be a paradise for history buffs and bibliophiles. For the past five decades, in the houses of these very streets, you can find the ruminants of the times it survived. The age-old Urdu magazine that fell out of publication, the stamps and collectables from the British rule, the hardbound classics that are difficult to trace today, the dramas of the 17th century can be found here.

Daryaganj developed into a culture of its own. Every Sunday, people would surround the generation-old bookseller, negotiating and buying books in bulk while savouring the moong dal ka pakoda from a food vendor nearby. There is a place for every nerd out there in this small lane of Daryaganj.

You can get your hands on manga, old comics, stationery, books, vintage stamps and calendars and even old photo albums of a family who used to live here. Daryaganj gave home to the nostalgic memories forgotten by their own and were adopted by those who wanted to give them a home.

However, the old dusty nostalgic lanes of Daryaganj couldn’t last the 21st century. The non-vending zone orders from the Delhi High Court led to the dislocation and closing of this famous Sunday Patri Kitab Bazaar. As loads of us carried disappointment in our hearts and try to accept the new book market that has been known as the Mahila Haat.

This relocation ended the business of vendors who have been selling books for generations. The culture that once began in the Daryaganj Book Market finds itself lost as one enters the new Haat where piles of books are laid down in a demarcated area for all the vendors.

The organic growth of the old-market aesthetic is lost in this new sanitised version of Daryaganj’s famous Sundays. While the open area and the promise of better hygiene can be treated as some of the advantages of this market, people still miss the market canvas such clustered areas provided in Delhi.

Delhi is known for its architecture and the establishment of such markets around these heritage sites. these markets increase the essence of the historicity of any place and develop a friendly relationship between buyers and sellers.

While people have slowly accepted this relocation and are getting accustomed to this change, they still miss the banters bibliophiles had while searching through a range of second-hand books and finding a hidden gem completely unexpected.