Booksellers Since...

by Kumud Biswas



(For Arabinda Dasgupta) I still smell the fresh smell of my first book Bought from the peripatetic bookseller Trudging along the dusty village roads The crafty fox foxing all children From it’s crisp pages for time immemorial. Since when he has been vending such tasty fare Nobody knows Nor does anybody care What generation of the seller sells Or what generation of the buyer buys. The brown wrapper With the stamp of your trademark Has held within its folds Food for hungry minds both young and old Turning over the fresh cover Lower down its inside Proudly I displayed your distinctive mark To be surprised to see The same mark on my friend’s old copy Bought perhaps by his grandfather Or from the pavement dealer. Your modest façade in emerald green The Coffee-house and my Alma Mater Are all landmarks on that busy road But they are no less in my graying life And the memories linger --- When I first entered your shop With uncertain steps How I first met my fire-eating friend Afire with the zeal of a crusader Far removed from the jungles of Bolivia And the ringing rice-fields of Vietnam Telling me with great agitation The techniques of guerrilla warfare Or that poor friend from Diamond Harbor Crestfallen by your costly volume Seeking out a second-hand copy From a pile on the opposite pavement And my first love With all its adolescent intensity Sighs in vain In search of that frail fairy Lost long ago In the fairyland of my fading memory. Even a passing glance at your façade Rekindles in me that first fire In my mellow years I longingly look for my love Waiting by your gate But I don’t find even a beggar What I see is your folded shutter With your name and emblem Evergreen as ever. Written in 1986 for the souvenir published to celebrate the centenary of Calcutta’s oldest bookshop, DASGUPTA & CO. The title of the poem is taken from what is printed on its wrapper – ‘Booksellers since 1886’.

27-Jun-2004

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Comments on this Poem

Padmaja Iyengar,
Thanks for reading and commenting on the poem. Yes, you are right. The booksellers not only do business for profits but also provide an invaluable service to the book lovers.

TagoreBlog
29-Oct-2013 00:31 AM

I just love this tribute to the oldest booksellers (since 1986) of Kolkata..How very thoughtful! A book seller acts as the greatest bridge between the authors, books and the book lovers...Thanks Kumud Biswasji for conceiving of this poem. Salutes to you and respects for articulating the gratitude of many a book lover like me.

Padmaja Iyengar
28-Oct-2013 12:07 PM