Chowk book shops, last refuge of rare books

HYDERABAD: Harry Potter does not make his magical appearance here. Neither do Hardy Boys nor Nancy Drew. For that matter, even The Suitable Boy, finds the book shops here, well, not too suitable.
This is the world of the book shops in Chowk, close to Charminar, where the avid book lover, in search of titles out of print or a student in search of a difficult to get textbook, makes a visit to in a last ditch attempt to find the book of his or her choice.
But over the years, the old book shops at Chowk, once a byword in the city for books, have been losing their charm. Though these shops, run in small shutter covered rooms stacked from top to bottom with books, continue to be the one place where Urdu lovers make a beeline for in search of books or for books on Islam and related literature, still find takers, the shops have been dwindling in numbers over the years.
Says the owner of Haziq & Mohi, rare books suppliers buyers & exporters'' Awad Mohammed Bafana, considered the most experienced book seller in Chowk book market: "There were more than 30 shops surrounding the mosque here from days when the Nizams ruled Hyderabad. But most of the shops have been closed as they suffered great losses. Presently, there are only 15 shops left in this market."
But the die hard book seeker continues to go to the market. "We have some research scholars coming in search of specific books, especially ones that are old and not available elsewhere in the city," he says. But not all books are expensive. "There are books that are available for as little as Rs 50 and as expensive as Rs 50,000," he adds. Turning nostalgic, Bafana says,
"Gone are the days of the kind of libraries people had when the Nizams ruled the city. But this generation prefers to watch television. But this market is still the place to come if you want a book on Islamic culture."
Incidentally, the book market at Chowk, as it was then, is referred to in the Glimpses of Nizam''s Dominion written in 1896 by Campbell. Most of the books in Urdu and Arabic available in the Chowk market are printed by Lakhan Traders, Moghalpura, Taj Public Ghar in Hussaini Alam, he says.