Who is the city? Walk VI - Book culture

WHO IS THE CITY ?

10^th March 2018, 4pm

Written by: Taniya Grace Joshua (Taniya is an architect and an Urban Designer)

 Among the many treasures of the city of Trivandrum, the treasure of books along the Palayam stretch forms one among the most valued. Lending a helping hand to the keen and needy students of the city, this stretch is occupied by the State Central Library and most importantly the Old Book Stores Lane.

Studio Commune decided to walk through and read this Book Lane on 10^th March, as part of its exploration on Who Is The City? The Walk revealed a set of layers in the trade, unseen to the common public and yet to be discovered by those seeking.

The initial days of this trade were quite informal and happened at Putharikandom. The history of these shopkeepers, all of whom hail from the same village Nemom, show that they have been engaged in this trade since childhood. Their grandfathers were engaged in collecting paper waste and had been selling old magazines that came along with the papers at Putharikandom Maithanam.  Later the trade assumed a more refined form, and shifted to Gandhi Park, then to University, Chandrasekhar Nair Stadium, Fine Arts College road and now finally to the wall adjacent to the public library since the last decade. It is now casually and gradually assuming the image of a formal setup.

The shopkeepers here have branches at Kollam, Kottayam and Kozhikode. But Palayam remains their main branch.

The base for many shops practicing the same trade found itself in this lane at Palayam because they believed that this place as a single entity holding multiple shops could benefit all of them, as people would associate the area with the trade. Moreover, they could share their profits by redirecting books not found in one shop to another store along the stretch.

The books are sold at reduced prices and the buyers are given an opportunity to return the books at half price after use. This ensures a balance of stock. Books are also collected from various homes, from old book stalls that are closing down, and by mutual exchange with other such distributors around the country, especially Hyderabad. Hyderabad provides a major share of the medical books available here, who in exchange gets a bulk of engineering books found in large at Trivandrum. These sellers also collect required books from across the country if requested by someone in need, thus being a mighty help to most students, especially those who cannot afford the first hand copies.

Books are available at school level, for various degrees, entrances, IAS, PSC and other exams. There is also a large collection of fiction, magazines and many other rare books.

The beginning of an online era was a major setback to this trade, with many opting to buy books online. But these traders have found their way, and has aligned with the online traders, providing new books that they get in hand, or undamaged books made new by techniques of rubbering and rebinding at reduced prices to online sellers, who then put them up online at reduced prices.

The trade thus has found space not just at Palayam, but also in the hearts of the students of Trivandrum. The noble act of catering to the needs of hundreds of students while at the same time making their own livelihoods is indeed one of the many pieces that find space into ‘Who is the City.’

From Aysha Joyce perspective ( Aysha just finished her 10th standard)

Who is the city?

A city or any area is usually defined by the buildings or non-living objects. However, isn’t the city defined by the people? This once-in-a-month walk visits the citizens of the city and explores how the people affect the development and character of the city.

This time’s walk was about the books and the people related to it. The walk was done at the book stalls near public library, Palayam. We explored how this book stalls and books affected the citizens and understood how this book business has been an integral part of the city for a long time. 

There are couple of spots in the city with ones near Aryurveda college, Gandhi Park etc. The business started in Pzhavangadi before moving to Gandhi park and so on. This is the 6th place where the people have moved. One of the sellers gave us an insight about the beginning of this knowledge business. The business began with magazines from newspapers and has now thrived to fiction books, textbooks, college course-works, magazines etc. 

The vendors are either closely related or know each other for a long time. The business is usually of mass benefits – if one stall doesn’t have any book, another stall is recommened. 

We talked to the vendors about the history and about the book stalls. Though faced with many difficulties such as dust pollution from the road; facing issues of moving; difficulty of saving the books during rain etc, the book stalls thrive to become an integral part of the city. 

The walk was conducted by The Studio Commune. They explore the different parts of the city and try to understand how the people defines and makes the city.