The vanishing roadside book stalls of Rawalpindi

Along with the dwindling interest in reading books among the youth, not only the public and private libraries spread in the city and the cantonment are disappearing but a record decrease is also being seen in the number of hawkers, selling books on the pavements in the Saddar Cannt area of the garrison city.

With this, the culture of selling books along the sidewalks of the city’s major thoroughfares seems to have died down significantly and will gradually fade away into oblivion in the near future. In the markets of Saddar Rawalpindi including Kashmir Road, Bank Road and Haider Road at least 13 young and old vendors would sell books on Sundays by arranging them on the footpaths and their business would continue from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every Sunday.

However, the number of vendors has now reduced to only three. Sources say the main reason for this is believed to be a record decrease in the sale of books coupled with their high cost while some say that the business of sidewalk bookselling is taking its last breaths due to access to all types of books in online libraries and on Google.

All kinds of Urdu, English, Punjabi, Persian, Islamic, and textbooks were sold on the sidewalks. In Rawalpindi, the selling of books on the roadsides started in the mid-80s and this business thrived and remained profitable until 2010. However, the decline which began after 2010 is now at its peak.

The books and magazines sold on these sidewalks included old textbooks, magazines of all kinds, all political, economic, military and Islamic magazines published in America, Britain and Europe, suspense novels, old newspapers, various new and old novels of women's interest, old Urdu and English textbooks of all private educational institutions, Islamic books, witchcraft, black magic techniques and even banned books. If any book became extinct in the market, these books and journals were also available on order by paying half of the price of the required book in advance to these sidewalk booksellers.

Children's big colourful pictorial books, drawing books, and story books of all kinds of children's interests were also available at affordable prices at these roadside book selling points. Similarly, books and magazines from around the globe with different cooking techniques, kitchen items, women's make-up books, mehndi design magazines, books with various decorative designs on women's clothing, and different types of skill training books with pictures were also easily available on these sidewalk book stalls.

Apart from that, the competitive guidebooks for getting a commission in the army, preparatory books for different examinations, and English conversation and grammar books from different companies were also available in abundance in these roadside book-selling stalls. People of all ages including elders, children, women and youth used to throng these stalls on Sundays to buy books.

When the Urdu Bazaar in Rawalpindi city was closed on Fridays, vendors would be seen selling books on tables outside on the road. Now, this practice has ended in Rawalpindi city. In Saddar, only one stall is left on Kashmir Road and two on Bank Road while all the book stalls on Haider Road are gone. Sultan Mehmood, the book stall holder of Saddar Kashmir Road, said that the business of selling books on the footpath was started by his grandfather. “My grandfather Haji Rizwan continued to do this work for a decade.

My father Bashiruddin also did this business for six years. Now for the last nine years, I have been doing this business,” he said. “Earlier, I would help my grandfather and father in the business. At that time we had a lot of variety in the books. We used to borrow these books from big bookstores and get our commission by selling them which was around 20 to 50 per cent on each book.

One Sunday's sale proceeds were equal to a month's salary,” he added. The bookseller lamented that the number of buyers has reduced significantly in recent years. “Overall, the purchase of books from the footpath has decreased by 60 per cent. The number of women has decreased by 80 to 86 per cent only a few children purchase books from roadside stalls,” he said.

He went on to explain that while the commission was high but the buyers were only a few. He complained that the shopkeepers as well as the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board staff seek money from them for setting up their bookstalls on the sidewalks. Meanwhile, Arshad Ali, a shopkeeper of Saddar Bank Road, said Sunday is a holiday when most government employees come for shopping.

“Customers’ attention is diverted as books are scattered on footpaths so they do not approach the shops. They also don't get the space for parking due to bookstalls. Our business is affected due to which we are forced to stop the booksellers from arranging their books in front of the shops because these booksellers keep blocking the roads from morning till night,” he clarified. Youths Arshad Jamal and Kumail Hassan opined that all kinds of textbooks are available online. “We have no interest in detective novels and film magazines, therefore, we do not buy these books,” they said.