We have
college street in Calcutta. And we have the college street footpath, selling books that are ‘second hand’ . And of
the several
different kinds of madmen found in Calcutta, the book hunters of the city are most eminent. And where else to meet them..its
college street footpath , of course. It can be definitely assumed that a book… any book published in any of the college street publishing houses , or elsewhere, anywhere in the world , meets its fate in college street. In fact nowhere else in this world no book can search its destiny , as it can find in the college street. Its inevitable , like a rule of nature..if you are born you have to die one day, similarly if a book is published, it must come down to the college street footpath. The book hunters are the people who know the lanes and bylanes of college street like the palm of their hands, who shuttle between ends of Calcutta in search of books, and who, can go to any extreme extent to procure a rare book.
They can be easily spotted, submerged in a pile of books on the footpath, frantically searching for a Kohinoor of a book that they may find. Since I too am kind of a book hunter, I had had the privilege of acquaintance with some of them. I have known one such person who had to buy a sari for his wife, but he returned home after buying a pile of books instead. There’s another person , who , even though finds it hard to arrange a square meal for his family, yet has got this indomitable addiction of buying first edition books from the college street. In his house you won’t find any furniture or anything, except a broken almirah full of first edition books, his lifelong collection !! these extraordinary people of Calcutta can accurately predict the destiny of a book, as soon as it is published, and can precisely forecast the time a new book will take to come down to the footpath. Here’s a book horoscope that I got from one such person.
Type of book time taken to reach the footpath after being published
Poems 2 weeks
Serious essays 1 month
History, political studies, science, 3 months
Philosophy and critical essays
Good fiction 6 months
Film screenplays 1 year
Detective stories 2 years
Kamasutra type books 5 years
Religious books 5 days
But, this is only a rough estimate. Also, you can always find rare, very rare books in college street.
So, this is the mystery of college street footpath. It is governed by a complicated organization, involving book sellers, book hunters and book lovers. Whoever a famous writer you are , the great college street can neutralize your vanity. You can publish your book, but you can be sure that in the end your book will meet its true destiny in the footpaths of college street.