This talk will introduce Daryaganj Patri Kitab Bazaar, popularly known as Sunday Book Market, as a parallel site for Book History. Illegality, informality, and unofficiality inform this bazaar in more than one way: in the periodic setting up of makeshift bookstalls every Sunday; in the publishing of ‘cheap’ books and the circulation of used books, in several crossovers that happen between the participants of this ‘communication circuit’. Mapping Daryaganj means acknowledging the street- view but also measuring the streets with slow, calculated footsteps and a curious gaze. All this, in order to find (v.) your find (n.) of the day. Given the recent developments, Daryaganj Patri Kitab Bazaar will either be displaced or may also get dramatically reduced in size. Hence, it is all the more important for those who belong to Delhi, as locals or migrants, to listen and share the narratives of their association with the streets of Daryaganj, This talk hopes to trigger such conversations. In other words, the space of Daryaganj, periodically occupied by sellers, buyers, and pedestrians, and several other invisible participants is the subject of the talk.
Kanupriya Dhingra is a Doctoral Candidate at SOAS, University of London. Her research on the parallel book markets of Delhi is supported by Felix Scholarship Fund. Her creative and critical writing has been published by The Caravan, Scroll.in, Indian Literature, Muse India, Guftgu, Aainanagar, and Anti Serious, among others.
