Far From The Madding Crowd

There was something about a BBC news item the other day that caught my eye. I had just started blogging here (and have invited other first-time bloggers to do so) when they tell me that ‘the blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007′ and that ‘the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million’. I am glad I jumped on the bandwagon when I did because, apparently, ‘most people who would ever start a web blog had already done so’. Phew!!!

The blogging movement has really caught on these past few years. There are blogs on every conceivable subject and contain everything from insignificant ramblings to ‘personal’ diaries and political commentaries. People have used it to merely ponder or deliberately influence and in this Internet age, many social movements have relied on blogs, in one form or another, to spread their message.

So I am really not convinced that those who might have started their own blogs have already done so. There will always be something else to say, always be something else to comment upon. And, of course, there is no dearth of listeners.

“Loss Of Identity” prompted me to carry out some research on College Street and this is what I found.

Arguably the largest second-hand book market in the world, College Street is the narrow stretch of road between Bowbazar and Mahatma Gandhi Road, which leads to Hatibagan and Shyambazar further north. A tram line runs in the middle of the road and the sidewalks on both sides are crowded with makeshift bookstalls constructed with wood, bamboo, sheets of corrugated tin and canvas.

This neighbourhood, often referred to as the Boi Para (boi: book, para: neighbourhood), and sometimes College Para, is the hub of intellectual activity in the city. Well-known academic institutions such as Presidency College, Scottish Church College, the Bethune College, the Medical College Calcutta, the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Hare School, Hindu School, Scottish Church School, Bethune School, Holy Child School and the University of Calcutta are situated on this street. The Indian Coffee House, a cafe that has attracted the city’s intelligentsia for decades, and numerous bookstores are also located here.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the book stall owners find ready clientèle in this neighbourhood. Students in search of reference and text books, avid readers of practically every genre, book-lovers in hopes of finding a hidden treasure are more often than not rewarded with a rare find at a throwaway price. Most Kolkatans visit this area often, sometimes even daily if only to spend a couple of hours browsing through piles of second hand books displayed at the stalls and perhaps strike a good bargain. Like mostly is the case with similar bookstalls in Mumbai and Delhi, the stall owners here are a very knowledgeable lot and can immediatly locate the book you want.

Indeed it is hard to imagine College Street without the book stalls. A city wide drive to evict hawkers operating on the pavements at various places in city a couple of years ago was carried out successfully. But the Boi Para was, as a matter of policy, left untouched. Seems like, though, that the city planners won this time.

And, probably, with good reason. The shops that once stocked on Dickens, Hardy and Austen did so because the readers could not get enough of these books. Sadly, the readership has deteriorated and the booksellers cannot afford to keep these classics anymore. The result: the size of the bookstores as well as the quality of books kept has declined. Bookstores are now reduced to being stores of question papers and syllabi. Sadly, these are now more profitable to keep. And, with no end in sight, the plight of College Street makes for some sad reading.

Among collector’s items there are the ‘normal’ ones like stamps and coins and the not-no-usual ones. Among the latter, those that come to mind are my friend Anil D’souza’s collections of match boxes and yet another friend Rob’s collection of coca-cola related paraphernalia. And while we have all heard of book collectors, there are those who passionately go after Book Trade Labels.

For more on those delightful collectibles I have included these websites (with due regard to the owners of these sites). Do have a peek

http://weblogs.bibliobox.com/Written-by-hand/?p=29

http://sarahsbooksusedrare.blogspot.com

http://sevenroads.org/Bookish.html

While the revival of interest in regional languages continues, many still prefer to study English as they see it as a means by which they could earn a decent livelihood. The obvious career path within a BPO unit not withstanding, many also realize that learning English allows one access to information and knowledge not readily available in regional languages.

For the full text of the article on this paradigm shift, click for the BBC website here.

Another article from The Hindu, this time about the hawkers of Kolkata’s famous College Street who have been asked to move to new premises. Famous the world over for second-hand books, College Street may soon be reduced to a footnote in history.

The text of the article can be read here

We are maintaining a list of independent publishers in India here

If you are an independent publisher and wish to add your information to our list, email us at contact@dogearsetc.com

Excerpts from an editorial of the Hindu, dated December 09, 2006:

Source:From the survey reported in The Times Higher Education Supplement, October 6, 2006. Each column subsumes the previous column: a university in the top 20 is also in the top 50, 100 and 200.

Time for some serious introspection, we presume.

For the whole text of the editorial, click here

To understand the immense potential for publishers and authors in India, one has to consider this: around 12,000 publishers publish roughly 80,000 titles every year in the country’s 24 official languages (there is no record of books published in other languages and dialects). Around one third of these books are in English and the remainder in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and other languages. And although the industry is estimated to have an annual turnover of over $1 billion, there is still plenty of potential for growth.

That is because India is estimated to have around 600 million book readers - an enormous potential that remains untapped because of the inability to reach these readers as well the inability to offer affordable books for all. However, some big publishers have recognized the potential of India. Penguin, Harper Collins and Random House have set up operations here to publish books in English and distribute them. The recent years have also witnessed a proliferation of independent publishing houses.

As an aside, this large number of readers contrasts starkly with another staggering figure: it is estimated that one third of Indians under 15 years are illiterate. The economic impact of such illiteracy not withstanding, it also highlights the need to urgently address this problem.

My wife and I watched this program on DW-TV and couldn’t help but wonder how badly India needs an initiative of this sort. The following is an excerpt from the website of DW-TV.

A one-time lawyer and political advisor, she volunteered for a while at a Washington children’s centre. There she found that the children had no books for their age group and were poor readers with no educational prospects. This applies to 27 million children in the US, so Kyle Zimmer founded First Book. She contacted childrens and youth centres all over the country in a search for the neediest children, fund-raised and got publishers on board. They donated unsold books, and more recently, Kyle Zimmer had childrens’ classics reprinted and distributed cheaply. First Book supplies 7 million books a year to 3,000 communities and 16,000 children’s homes. Now First Book is to be introduced to Canada and India.

I am sure there are quite a few such Indian initiatives already making their mark - in their own, quiet, way - away from the glare of the media. However, their efforts need to be recognized and supported so if there is someone you know out there, let us know and we will mention their names on this blog.

With users from all states except Tripura and Sikkim having registered on Dogears Etc., we now boast of a pan-Indian reach. Well-almost…:-). It is a validation of our concept and a reiteration of our belief that there are still people out there who swear by books. Our sales have encompassed all genres and so have the requests for books. From comics to text-books, from Desmond Bagleys to Thomas Hardys.

So who was it who said that books are out and television is in? That Lara Croft has nudged Enid Blyton aside? That the ps3 is the latest craze?

English books notwithstanding, there now seems to be a clamour for regional literature. Folks are suddenly waking up to the fact that books written in the regional and vernacular languages have long been ignored and need a new lease of life. In that aspect, perhaps, India is unique. There is so much to read, in a variety of languages and dialects, describing a myriad of emotions and experiences. There might be a million things Indians may be able to complain about but a dearth of rich literature is hardly one of them.