LUCKNOW: Hazratganj, the hi-fashion road of downtown Lucknow, is ready to lose one more landmark, the well-known British E book Depot which is sort of 90-years-old.
After the famend Ram Advani Booksellers, that is the second bookshop in Hazratganj that has closed down.
For proprietor Suraj Prakash Kakkar, 83, books weren’t simply bread and butter but additionally a legacy. He was lovingly known as dealer of data. However time has modified, and so have the circumstances .
Kakkar recalled the store was established by his father, Shanti Prakash Kakkar in 1930. There was a time when former Prime Minister late Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, former President late Shankar Dayal Sharma, a number of governors and outstanding political leaders used to frequent his bookstore to buy books. Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, a well known British scholar with huge data concerning the metropolis, had visited the store a number of instances for reference work.
Kakkar and household determined to shut the favored bookstore positioned in the center of town for a number of causes: Firstly, it incurred large losses resulting from extended closure throughout Covid instances. Secondly, the web e book enterprise has adversely hit the retail market as individuals are getting books at cheaper costs than what is accessible in the market. E book commerce is now not a worthwhile enterprise.
Thirdly, the proprietor has three daughters and no son. “My eldest daughter is settled in america. The opposite two are in Mumbai and Bengaluru. They haven’t any curiosity in operating the bookstore as they’re fortunately engaged in their very own professions. So, simply as each good factor involves an finish, this beautiful bookstore of mine can also be shutting down,” stated an emotional Kakkar whose spouse Uma Kakkar handed away on August 31, 2022.
British E book Depot has its origin in Mhow, army headquarters in Madhya Pradesh. The store in MP was established with a companion. Later, Shanti Prakash Kakkar determined to step out of MP and determined to settle in Lucknow and established the e book retailer in a rented store. The choice to call the store as British E book Depot was not troublesome as in pre-Independence days governors and Indian students have been keen on studying books. Therefore the household determined to call it as British E book Depot.
“A number of medical and engineering college students fell in love with the store. As medical books have been costly, college students used to borrow books for an hour and get essential pages photocopied for his or her reference work. We love the scholar neighborhood and their quest for data. We allowed college students to flick through books for hours with out inflicting any hassle,” recalled Kakkar, a postgraduate from Lucknow College who began taking care of the store in the Sixties.
However the outdated order has modified . “Quite a lot of large e book shops began shutting down worldwide. Common E book Stall in Kanpur, an enormous bookstore, closed some years in the past. Mortality and infancy are the best in the e book enterprise than in any commerce or occupation. With books logging on, folks have stopped visiting bookstores. They’re completely happy to learn them on their handheld devices,” Kakkar stated.
After Kakkar determined to shut the household enterprise, his home on Park Highway is stuffed with unsold books mendacity throughout in bundles. “The publishers whose cost was made refused to take the unsold books. Now we have introduced all these unsold books at our place and pa will segregate them. Possibly these books can be given to colleges or different needy individuals,” stated Shilpi Kakkar, his daughter who comes from Mumbai at common intervals to take care of him.
Right here’s what the again web page of Kakkar’s visiting card reads: A home with out books is a room and not using a window. E book store is a temple of studying. The very best charity one can do is to hold data to folks. When you educate a person, you educate a person. However in the event you educate a girl, you educate the entire household.
Chander Prakash of Common Booksellers, stated, “We had a protracted affiliation regardless of being in the identical enterprise. We have been colleagues working in a very reasonable aggressive area. Closure of British E book Depot and plenty of different retailers in the nation is an indicator of what on-line sale has carried out to the business. We should perceive that bookshops in any metropolis are barometers of its mental capital. Town with a vibrant bookshop can also be an indicator of the cultural area which it enjoys. Closure of bookshops just isn’t a really wholesome and completely happy signal for society.”
Prof Arup Chakraborty of Lucknow College stated that just a few days again he handed the e book retailer and noticed the proprietor Suraj Prakash Kakkar sitting there along with his employees. “I’ve many fond recollections. I’ve recognized British E book Depot because the time I studied at Loreto Convent (at a time when boys have been additionally given admission). After I went to Colvin Taluqdars’ School and Lucknow College, I used to go to the bookstore. I additionally went there with my mentor late Prof SN Qanungo. I’ve a number of completely happy recollections of British E book Depot that catered to our wants.”
