Tit-Bit bookstall, a paradise for booklovers
By Chronicler
Karachi
Established in 1945,Tit-Bit Bookstore continues to offer variety of books both new and old on very reasonable rates to the booklovers in the congested area of Saddar, Karachi.
The entire vicinity of Saddar offers quite a range of commodities for people belonging to middle and lower middle class. However, when it comes to books there are only fewer places in the area which got stuff to satisfy the curiosity of the booklovers. Tit-Bit is the top priority of the visitors when someone happens to be in Saddar and he/she is looking for books.
of the outlet every day comes to his bookstore as early as 9 o’clock in the morning when many other shopkeepers prefer to be at home and doing business is not at the cards at this hour of the days.
Tit Bit is always in the business no matter it’s raining like cats and dogs, streets are filled with sewerage, the season is hot and humid or other reasons which may jam the life for some Karachiites.
It was established by his later father in the vicinity and in his father’s lifetime Salim started giving him a helping hand in selling books.
Love for books and selling them to the buyers on reasonable and agreeable price is in his genes. Most of his visitors are his regular clients and the proprietor knows well as what sort of book one would demand or what should be offered to him/her as per taste in books for the visitors.
The shelves are filled with variety of books including fiction, history, theology, geography, poetry, philosophy etc.
On the right side of the entrance of the shop, entire section of the shelves offers books on fiction in English of the various famous writers.
The client may ask for a specific book or request the proprietor to show him/her books authored by a specific author and Muhammad Salim after scanning a few shelves would hand over the required piece in no time.
There is little place unoccupied on the floor of the shop as books are also placed on it in proper order in the form of bundles.
The front of the shop is also stashed with books on wooden-boards. Most of the books pertaining to children are displayed on these boards.
A few years ago, Tit-Bit Bookstall was functioning in the shop adjacent with Jahangir Restaurant, a food outlet which was famous for variety its delicious items. Since, some years ago the building where the restaurant and the book outlet were functioning was demolished to build some high-rise building on the place, proprietor shifted his books in the shop just opposite of the site in which it had started business in mid 40’s of the last century. The business is the same for Salim as it was in the old shop. His visitors know well how to locate his shop if they are paying visit to him after quite a sometime. Change of venue has not changed anything for him and for his visitors.
It is pertinent to mention here that book-reading has never been a popular culture in Pakistan when it is counted in terms of large population which is this country is hosting. Publishing of books and selling of them has been an issue over here especially for new writers. Fewer newspapers, when it was prime time for the print media industry in the world, crossed the magical figure of 100,000 in terms of circulation in Pakistan. This phenomenon may reflect as what would be ratio of book-reading in the country where only fewer newspapers were able to cross 80,000 or 100,000 figure in terms of their circulation.
However, Tit-Bit Bookstall continues to be in the business because of dedication of the owner towards the books. When this scribe inquired from Salim about his future plans he stated: “I want to open a bookstall at every nook and corner of the city. Even the presence of such stores would lure the passerby to look at the books and rest of the work would be done by books themselves.”
Ends
