College Street

or Book Street

For the first time I am covering the College Street of Kolkata. I was so thrilled to go to a street which celebrates books. The book lover in me rushed to visit and enjoy the journey. The walk down that street of Book lovers. 

Shop after shop of books. Well not books but college books. So many books. Education taking over reading habits. I always read my school books because I loved reading books. Probably that's how I have learned most in my life by reading. About lives. About people. About things. It gives me such joy. 

And here was the plethora of shop after shop, of book after book, of MBA and Engineering books. In a world of Internet these books were still there. And college and school going Students and children were busy finding and haggling the Second hand book shops. Not a book lovers dream but still a dream. I even love second hand books. 

Old books, with little marks, little doodles, little notes, little rose petals. The old, yellowing, musky books. The pile after pile of weak spines and dog ears. The damp pages and silverfish eggs. The old books are keepsakes of a life lived well. A life lived of reding books. All those books read and lived to tell the tale. 

The make shift book shops, the corridor and the crowds. Look the Tram. The Kolkata Tram. The world famous. Equally vintage and lovely. The life line of a time that's long gone. Of stories of lives lived. The daily journey, the go and come, the conversations, the wait, the hurry, the destination. 

Truely said! Where ever there are books, there is Saraswati!