Biswajit Ghosh sits in his dark, cramped little bookshop in College Street, worrying about the decline in the sale of books. On a hot summer afternoon, the shop wore a deserted look. Ghosh was constantly on the phone in an effort to secure an order of books published by him from a state education board. He had seen better days in the past. His shop, ‘Indian Book Concern’ — located in one corner of a dilapidated 200-year-old building — was set up by his family 70 years ago and is one of 103 bookstalls situated in the narrow Ramanath Majumdar Street in the College Street area.
“We have seen how books themselves have undergone a change in appearance but now we are at the juncture where we are facing a threat from online book-sellers,” says Ghosh. His friend and fellow bookseller, Debobroto Som, joins the conversation. “The book trade today is not like what it was earlier. Today many big sellers are not able to sell enough from the counters and have been forced to enter into agreements with online companies,” says Som. He owned a printing press, which he closed down last year. “There was a time, when I printed only books sold in my shop; but now that has become financially un-viable.”
Both agree that, though the city’s publishers and shopkeepers are feeling the heat due to the competition with online business, the situation for traditional booksellers in Kolkata is not as bad as in other metro cities. Ghosh feels that the publishers of Kolkata and the readers are both “very conservative and still like to buy books from counters of book shops.”
Another reason is that most language publications have not yet found their way to online sellers. The tradition of fairs is still very strong in Kolkata and in the districts and the boi-melas (book fairs) — held in different parts of the city and the state throughout the year — are much-anticipated and popular events. These fairs play a crucial role in keeping the bookshops running.
However, the apprehension of being eased out of the market by online sellers continues to haunt the traditional booksellers. “We read in newpapers that in Delhi books are being sold in bulk at throwaway prices. We fear that such a situation may come to Kolkata and to College Street as well,” said Ghosh who is also the secretary of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Bengal. This concern is shared by the majority of those operating in the College Street area, which has been a haven for book lovers for generations. Often referred as boi para or “the book colony”, College Street has been catering to the the diverse demands of book buyers — whether it is textbooks, books on literature, politics and art or old and rare books.
Published - July 18, 2015 04:15 pm IST
