Bookish life’s Paradise: Daryaganj

I don’t like Delhi as a whole, and I have good reasons for it. There is an endless list of the bad sides of Delhi; believe me the topic can never even end for a life time. Here is a fact, “Every bad guy has a good guy inside”. Delhi necessarily isn’t the bad guy but its got bad habits, however there is some good in it too. For me one of its good sides is Daryaganj. Daryaganj isn’t neat, not the best place in the world, again there are bad sides in it too. It’s filthy- yes, it’s unhygienic-yup, it smells-A LOT, is it the best book lovers paradise? Duh!

The Daryaganj Book Bazaar is 4 Km long which all most
looks endless because of the crowd. You'll have to be a
serious book lover to get through it. 

If you are in Delhi and you read, what are you doing?! Go to Daryaganj! It’s a huge second hand market which almost looks never ending. Besides selling books it’s also famous for its special Non vegetarian food and there are numerous publishing companies who have there offices established there like Oxford University Press, S. Chand & Co. and how can I forget to mention Rupa Publications!  The second hand book market is opened only on Sundays from 7 am. You can buy any book; I mean literally any book from new editions to your grandpas old generation of love stories. The best thing about it is that there are no price ranges in this market, if you’re really good at bargaining. 

Last Sunday, I went to Daryaganj by the Metro, as usual it’s so crowded at times you can’t even see the book you want to buy. Believe me; you have to be a sincere book lover to pass through the masses of crowd. The pavements are filled with 200 book sellers with no space to even walk rather then choose the book you want. Random pickpockets are always lurking beside you looking for every chance of steeling. I was so protective about my books; I carried my backpack in front of me, this way there was no probability of my beloved books being stolen.  Anyway, I stayed there for at least two hours and I bought ten books for Rs.800. All of you who don’t really read much might think that was a pretty hefty price. Only it wasn’t. If you go to Connaught Place the heart of Delhi, I swear I would have gotten those books for minimum of Rs.2821. So practically, I am showing off that I saved up Rs. 2021.

Books Name	Author’s Name	I brought it for (in rupees)	Original Price (in rupees)
Godfather	Mario Puzo	100	221
Emma	Jane Austen	100	125
Message in a Bottle	Nicholas Sparks	100	220
The Memoirs of Geisha	Arthur Golden	115	476
Anne of Green Gables	LM Montgomery	20	135
Catch 22	Joseph Heller	120	250
Gone With the Wind	Margaret Mitchell	100	281
Melody	VC Andrews	20	447
The Lost Hero	Rick Riordan	125	666
Total=10		800	2821

I mostly bought classics from here, since they are the cheapest, if you look carefully above; I even brought two books for Rs.20 which are in a good condition and I am so sure that one of them has never been even read. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan was released in September 2010 and it’s only seven months with a small tear at the back and its selling for Rs 125! Shocking, isn’t it? If I had looked closer enough I am sure I would have even gotten my self a book at least two months old in the same price.  

There aren’t only novels I could see really fat Engineering books lying in the pavement, old NCERT books, a book about how to become a successful Psychologist, all sorts of magazines from Femina to ELLE, Harry Potter books for Rs.100 and many Hindi novels selling for Rs.5.  Books weren’t only in English and Hindi, I’ve seen Urdu, French and amazingly even Italian. In Daryaganj you need patience, good bargaining skills and enough body resistance to not to hurt you neck while stooping down looking for books because trust me my neck still hurts.

In the end, you can go to Kahn Market to show off how much you love books by their prices, hardbound covers and lovely delicate pages. But a book lover like me who doesn’t earn at all but wraps its penniless soul to the dirty second hand books lying in the pavement just for the sake of enjoying a book; ignoring its deformities, its dirt filled cover and its torn old rusty pages. 

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