If you have done your education in Kolkata, then at least once in your life you will have visited College Street. Located in Central Kolkata, it takes you back in time to the days when life was simpler. Known as Kolkata's 'boi Para' which literally translates to 'book locality', it is the best place in the city, and certainly one of the best places in the country, to get first hand and second hand books, especially in the field of academics. Yours truly has lived in the City of Joy for 18 years and 17 of them have been as a student. So no wonder that it formed a part of my life to go there to get books to read, for college, university and even in school.??
What helped was the fact that for 2 years, I studied in the main campus of the University of Kolkata, which is located, you guessed it, on college street. And if you are there, one cannot miss a visit to Presidency College's famous cafeteria, or the iconic Indian Coffee House and of course the historical Paramount 'sharbot' shop which used to be an old haunt of freedom fighters in the pre-independence era.
But look at it now, and one can hardly recognise it. Ever since we went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, College Street wears a dead look. The Amphan cyclone did not help as many books got damaged. the odd shop can be seen open at times but most are closed and many owners are facing huge losses.?
"What can I do? We make our living selling books, but nobody is coming to buy and it's understandable why, but it does not make our job easier," said Bhaskar Roy, who owns a stall for 30 years, while speaking to Indiatimes.
Sadly he is not alone. Nabarun Basu has a stall just opposite the university campus and earlier it would be flooded with students, now he sees no reason to open it.?
"Things were bad enough with COVID-19 and Amphan added more insult to injury. I am struggling to make ends meet and books are my life. If I cannot sell them, I do not know what to do," he lamented.?
Poltu, whose real name nobody in the area probably knows, is a man from whom I brought most of my mystery novels at like 1/4 of the original price. Now his lot is vacant. One can see him loitering around at times and it is just sad to watch.?
"No point in opening the shop. College Street has lost its charm. There is nothing left," he insisted.?
Once an identity most Kolkatans identified with as pride, College Street is just a shadow of its old self. A disease and a natural disaster has pretty much stripped the life from this historical place.