Mall road is one of my favorite areas of Lahore and I have some wonderful childhood memories associated with it. There is no other road like it which we all love here in Lahore, probably because it’s so close to the heart of the old city.
Yesterday while driving around the mall road, I decided to look for a book shop and buy 3 books which were long pending in one of my wish-list. So driving slowly, I started to recall the old books shops where I used to buy books with my father when I was a little kid. To my great surprise and shock, I could only find Maqbool Academy which is located in famous Diyal Singh Mansion and Feroz Sons. All the other old book shops were either closed or they had changed their line of business.
First, I couldn’t believe that all those lovely book shops I once loved are really gone one by one but then I realized it had to happen, keeping in mind the ever dwindling lack of interest in reading book in our society. General public has lost interest in book reading and for sellers it is no longer a profitable business.
There used to be atleast 10 book shops at Mall Road only just 8 or 10 years ago but only TWO exist now.
For example, there used to be one small book shop near Regal Cinema gate inside the small lane (I forgot its name), where there are two flower vendors now. Also there was the Imperial Book Depot and across from Regal used to be the Classic Book House. Then across from Cathedral and High court was Russian Book House.
But my favorite was a small book shop at Regal, just on the left of Shireen Mehal. I think its name was Mirza Book Agency and not only they used to have the best ever collection of children’s edition of famous novels but also The Hardy Boys and every other comic collection. I still remember my father got me a pocket sized version of Charles Dickens ‘A Tale of Two Cities‘ from there long long time ago. This shop not only sold old books at low, affordable prices but they had a special taste in Urdu literature. The owner of that shop introduced me to some of the finest writers of Urdu literature and I can’t thank him enough for doing that (if only I can find him now).
Yes, Feroz Sons were there too but they were never in my good book atleast. First I never had so much money to spend when I was a kid and Feroz Sons were very expansive, still are I think. Second, I don’t know why but I loved old books. I guess old books smell different :). So I always ended up at my favorite shop at Regal or Maqbool Academy and hey Bible Society had a lot to offer. But for me the best of them was Maqbool Academy because I could make use of 50% discount scheme by National Book Foundation which was huge relief for people like me. I don’t know if this scheme still exists.
I also recall people who would sell old books from defunct British collections, on a rug in the mud. My cousin once forced me to buy George Orwell’s ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying‘ for Rs. 10 which he then took with him to England. All gone. But I have seen a few such people in Anarkali and Bible Society even now.
Its a pity that, for whatever reasons, people have stopped reading books over the years. I don’t know if I am quoting right or not but I think it was in To Kill a Mockingbird that someone said in some connection with reading, “One doesn’t learn how to breatheâ€Â?.
Darwaish blogs on his own blog la vie en rose and also contributes to Metroblog Lahore, where a version of this post first appeared.
Reading old books is a fascinating experience. Its like going back in time 50 or 100 years and becoming part of a conversation. I still go out to old Anarkali in search of someone who still has something old and valuable to sell.
On reading news papers, I agree hum waqai daikhtay hain, parhtay nahiN. Loved the post btw :).
I have just discovered this website yesterday and I am instantly in love with the contents. You guys are doing a great job.
Like many other readers this particular post also brought back my childhood memories. Its always nice to see people writing about their memories.
PS: I think there should be a seperate ‘Memories’ category here which is missing at the moment.
national book foundation sceme is still there and there are libraries for book lovers who even have latest books available. unfortunately people don’t make use of them. if one wants to read books, they don’t always have to buy them.
This post brought back so many memories. I am just so glad to see that this lack of reading issue is remembered by others too. I agree with isloo people here that things are far better there but lahore has definitely lost its intelectual past. I heard even Pak Tea house has been closed down too?
Nice reverie.
The issues of the 70 percent who cannot read are serious indeed, and literacy is clearly a massive challenge. But, what this post by Darwaish speaks to is a different issue of the lack of reading habits amongst the 30 (maybe less) percent who CAN read. I am quite convinced that most of us do NOT read… even the newspaper, hum daikhtay hain, parhtay nahiN.
This, of course, does not stop people from commenting thoroughly on things they have never read a word about (am myself guilty of that). But somehow reading is not considered a pre-requisite for even passing judgment on books and authors that we have never even bothered to read.
Having said that, I think the picture is not all bleak. There has been a minor revolution in English publishing in Pakistan. First with Vanguard and now with OUP. Unfortunately, too many of these are ‘memoirs’ trying to rewrite histories, but that is not a bad start either. Earlier, in Urdu publishing houses like Sang-e-Meel and later Maawra amongst others have also made valiant contributions. Occasionally (like currently from Dawn publishers, earlier from Jang group, or the series on sufiana kalam from Ferozesons) some truly spectacular books (in terms of substance as well as production) come along.
But the pursuit of reading as a pleasurable exercise and an intellectual pastime seems to be waning. What Darwaish is saying (with the books he mentions) is reading for the sake on reading (not to learn a computer language or find the 7 habits of success). Books are rarely a topic of discussion … when was the last time someone asked ‘What have you been reading lately?’ In my experience, when I do bring up books as a topic of conversation it is met with amusement – as if they are wondering why I waste time reading actual books when I can get ‘information’ from Wikipedia (which, by the way, is a lousy and dangerous way of doing so for anything serious, as the Cowasjee and Muslim Nobel winners episode demonstrated). This attitude I do worry about. An attitude that not only things that the knowledge in books is not useful, but seems to act as if it is dangerous or actually wrong!
Apologies for these meandering thoughts, but let me end on a positive note. There are actually lots of Old Book Shops still thriving. In Islamabad, the ‘original’ ‘Old Book Shop’ (in the circular building in Melody Market) now has multiple branches and there are many others that have followed. In Lahore, I recently browsed for hours at this wonderful book shack in Old Anarkali. And my copy of Ayub Khan’s ‘Freinds, Not Masters’ I picked up a couple of years ago in an old book shop in Quetta.
Personally, I think Pakistan is ripe for an Amazon type service for selling and buying old books… any entrepreneurs listening?