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A Book Lovers Paradise
 A
road connects Flora Fountain , one of the historical monument
in Mumbai, to Churchgate, the Head Quarters of Western Railways.
This crisscrossed street is lined with book stalls that display
a bewildering variety of books crammed in every conceivable place.
Books ranging from best sellers to an ancient copy of the classics
can be bought at reasonable prices.
 This
is where you can witness the literates meeting the illiterates.
Here most of the shopkeepers are illiterates, or as they say,
"hum to saab angutha chap hain." After thinking
about the plight of these shopkeepers, you tend to wonder if they
are not literate, then how can they figure out which book is of
which subject. "We organise all the books according to the
subject. Most of the owners are literates and they introduce us
to different subjects and its respective books that has to be stalled.
After a couple of months, fidgeting with variety of books, one tends
to recognise books by their covers," revealed Suresh,
one of the employees in a shop.
When you come here do not be surprised, if looking for 'A Suitable
Boy', your chance upon a 'Mills n Boons', with your initials
on it. Yes, these books are purchased by the shopowners from the
raddi walas, to whom we despatch all our old stocks at through
away prices - like Rs 3/- a kilo. All
these old books are accumulated and then sold to other book lovers.
These shops also keep stock of new books offering them with a discount
of 5 to 10 percent, depending on the publisher and their profit
margins. According to Raju, one of the shopkeepers, "The
least priced book with me is of Rs 10 and the highest priced I sold
till date is of Rs 935. Often customers place their requirements
and we get the books accordingly. We also run a library and books
are given to anyone and everyone, on depositing the actual price
of the book; full rate for a new issue and half rate for a second
hand book."
 "I
love reading, and its not always possible to spend a bulk amount
for books. And for those who would rather not lavish all their money
on books, the book stalls is a sweet deal. Here you get your copy
at reasonable rates. At times you can even pick a new issue, if
you are availing their library facility. And here you get books
ranging from fables to hi-tech topics, all stretched on sides of
this street." Annie, Officer, HSBC, is one among
the thousands, who visits these stalls almost everyday.
These workers spend around ten man hours everyday from 9 in the
morning to 7 in the evening and what they receive is peanuts. Most
of them are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and are
in the age group of 18 to 30 years. "Looking at these books
at times we wonder, we wont have been selling them if we were capable
of reading them." sighed one among the numerous shopkeepers.
By: Sharmistha
Chakraborty
Photographs by:
Vinayak Prabhu
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