Books on the Footpath
Kala-Pyacha Though I am yet to witness writers begging on the footpath, their books have long made their way there and have thus been silently facilitating their own journey there at some future point. It is sheer luck that the books have arrived but the authors have not yet. Once born, humans must die; once written, books must arrive on the footpath. This observation is quite scientific, in fact. I know of some eminent and insane people who heartily believe in this theorem. They are also avid footpath book ‘collectors.’ In a few select cities, and such cities are now rare in India, you may often bump into such lost and insane souls. They do not frequent cinema halls or other adda sessions. They do not have time for all that—their heads are filled up with books on the footpath. And most of their fallow time is spent on rummaging through books on the footpath. Often you will find them lost and vigorously trying to spy some pearl within the piles of books that lie strewn on the footpath. Having gone to buy wives’ sarees in the market, they will return with old books instead. I know of a man who is hardly able to run his family but the lure to collect first editions is simply irresistible for him. Nothing much at home, but the one full almirah is stashed with first editions. I have known quite a few people who are dead certain about the scientific thesis that I have just advanced: that books must come to the footpath once written. These collectors keep track of every new book that arrives in the market. But if you happen to ask one of them, “Have you seen that new book, written by so and so?” The inevitable reply will be, “Yes I have been following. The book hit the stands a couple of months ago, right? I sure will buy it; just hoping that it will reach the footpath in 3-4 months’ time.” Even a vegetable vendor will be horrified to hear this, and a writer, hah! What immense faith the soothsayer has in his own conclusion. As if he is the grand astrologer, the raj-jyotishi of each and every book and can easily predict their destiny. I have been fortunate to have known a few of the astrologers of this class. By merely glancing at the book or at the very mention of the author’s name these jolly souls can predict at what point the book will arrive on the footpath at half the original price. It is thus that I have been able to work out some sort of a horoscope of various classes of books from these folks. The half-price dateline looks somewhat like this: Poetry 2 weeks History, Philosophy, Politics, Science, Criticism 3 months Good Novel 6 months Film Gossip & Fiction 1 year Detective & Crime 2 years Pornography 5 years Religious books 5 days I have consulted some rather experienced hands about this distribution, and there has not been too much of a variation in the past 50 odd years. If you have a sense about this particular horoscope, you will naturally be enlightened about the selling power of new books too. They are intricately linked. Look at the last two entry—the number 5 is common; but the rest? Thereby hangs a tale, does it not? I have already proffered this quite scientific thesis about books—that if you venture to write, tablets and pamphlets and books must appear on the footpath. An obvious corollary to this thesis may come from the table above: the quicker a book arrives at the footpath, the less it gets sold in its first hand version and vice versa. The other corollary can be drawn from the first one: that the reader’s relationship with particular genres of books may reflect the nature of a social condition. It is pretty clear that poetry or religion are not visceral genres any more, difficult and serious subjects perhaps bore lay people and there is not even much time to read a good novel. These are no new observations. But that robust imaginative or analytical literature has taken a backseat is not even good news for popular literature, forget the classic. Those who have read the likes of Marquis de Sade or old vernacular fiction/poetry/lyric know well the art and romance of serious pornography, its lazy ruses, and its capacity to complicate relationships. Boisterous, messy, heartbreaking. They take it headlong. So also with religion or