The Truth About DARYAGANJ... How The Daryaganj's Sunday Book Bazaar Came Into Being?

Scrolling through HT City, I read this article and felt like sharing it...

So, here the story goes...

Fifty years ago, a kabadi bazaar selling used clothes, sandals and furniture was held each Sunday near Jama Masjid in the walled city. The shops would be lined on both sides of what once was Delhi's biggest fish market. In 1964, three men gate-crashed hte bazaar and set-up second-hand book stalls.

After five years, the kabadi bazaar was moved to Red Fort's 'backside'. This ' backside' was not easily accesible by public transport. Within six months, one of the three original book-sellers (Kuldeep Raj Nanda) left the place to set-up a Sunday stall just below the lohe wala pul and become the first book-seller of the present-day Sunday Book Bazaar in Daryaganj.

Nanda was soon joined by many other book-sellers. For six straight days, these men would visit the city's kabadis. The kabadis would get used books from wealthy families in the city, and these book-sellers would but books from them on per-kilo basis. On the seventh day - Sunday - the books would be displayed on the little stretch in Daryaganj.

Initially, a small number of passers-by would stop to check out the books. Gradually, a few of these became regular. More people started coming. More book-sellers set-up stalls.

The Sunday Book Bazaar is now a city institution.

"Sleep Tight"

Where do we get this phrase from...???

Well, it comes from Shakespearean England via thousands of children's bedtimes. William Shakespeare first gave "tightly" the meaning "effectively" or "well" in his 1598 play The Merry Wives Of Windsor.

 

By the late 18th century, the word was also used as an adjective, and it was in this form that it became part of rhyming couplet "Good Night. Sleep Tight", probably dreamed up by an anonymous mother to wish her young child a pleasant sleep. The subsequent popularity of this rhyme means that the phrase lives on today, despite its exact meaning being largely forgotten.

Green Tips

Some green tips for you guys. Must have read them or heard many times.. So refresh your Mind and Think about them...

1) REFUSE to take plastic bags from shopkeepers. Take your own cloth bag while going for shopping. Explain to people why plastic bags are wasteful and polluting.

2) Always use both sides of paper before throwing it away. You can use it for rough work, telephone note-pads and other purposes.

3) Always RE-USE envelopes. Better still, make your own from old newspaper or magazines.

4) Conserve every drop of water that you possibly can. Don't waste water while brushing or shaving. Repair leaky taps.

5) Save electricity.

6) Save fossil fuels. Try to walk or cycle short distances while travelling. Prefer public transport like buses, metro.

7) Don't use aluminium cans. They cause an incredible waste problem.

8) Eat low on food chain. It takes much less land, water and energy to support a vegetarian diet.

9) Let your voice be heard. Stop the person dumping garbage on street. FEEL FREE TO AIR YOUR OPINION.

10) Try to use AYURVEDIC or NATURAL removers.