NAI SARAK’S LOST GLORY

Nai Sarak in Walled City is one of India’s biggest textbook markets. It became a book hub when many publishers and booksellers came from Lahore after partition.With sales dwindling, shopkeepers try to innovate. In the 1970s, a lot of publishers shifted their offices to Daryaganj, which by the 1990s became the country’s biggest publishing hub. With business dwindling, shops closed down in Nai Sarak, many in the past year alone.

RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO Charanjit’s shop sells secondhand books.