Iconic bookstore in Lucknow closes down

LUCKNOW: Hazratganj, the hi-fashion street of downtown Lucknow, is set to lose yet another landmark, the famous British Book Depot which is almost 90-years-old.

After the renowned Ram Advani Booksellers, this is the second bookshop in Hazratganj that has closed down.

For owner Suraj Prakash Kakkar, 83, books were not just bread and butter but also a legacy. He was lovingly called trader of knowledge. But time has changed, and so have the circumstances .

Kakkar recalled the shop was established by his father, Shanti Prakash Kakkar in 1930. There was a time when former Prime Minister late Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, former President late Shankar Dayal Sharma, several governors and prominent political leaders used to frequent his bookstore to purchase books. Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, a well-known British scholar with vast knowledge about the city, had visited the shop several times for reference work.

Kakkar and family decided to close the popular bookstore located in the heart of the city for multiple reasons: Firstly, it incurred huge losses due to prolonged closure during Covid times. Secondly, the online book business has adversely hit the retail market as people are getting books at cheaper prices than what is available in the market. Book trade is no longer a profitable business.

Thirdly, the owner has three daughters and no son. “My eldest daughter is settled in the United States. The other two are in Mumbai and Bengaluru. They have no interest in running the bookstore as they are happily engaged in their own professions. So, just as every good thing comes to an end, this lovely bookstore of mine is also shutting down,” said an emotional Kakkar whose wife Uma Kakkar passed away on August 31, 2022.

British Book Depot has its origin in Mhow, military headquarters in Madhya Pradesh. The shop in MP was established with a partner. Later, Shanti Prakash Kakkar decided to step out of MP and decided to settle in Lucknow and established the book store in a rented shop. The decision to name the shop as British Book Depot was not difficult as in pre-Independence days governors and Indian scholars were fond of reading books. Hence the family decided to name it as British Book Depot.

“Several medical and engineering students fell in love with the shop. As medical books were expensive, students used to borrow books for an hour and get important pages photocopied for their reference work. We love the student community and their quest for knowledge. We allowed students to browse through books for hours without causing any trouble,” recalled Kakkar, a postgraduate from Lucknow University who started looking after the shop in the 1960s.

But the old order has changed . “A number of big book stores started shutting down worldwide. Universal Book Stall in Kanpur, a huge bookstore, closed some years ago. Mortality and infancy are the highest in the book business than in any trade or profession. With books going online, people have stopped visiting bookstores. They are happy to read them on their handheld gadgets,” Kakkar said.

After Kakkar decided to close the family business, his house on Park Road is full of unsold books lying all over in bundles. “The publishers whose payment was made refused to take the unsold books. We have brought all those unsold books at our place and dad will segregate them. Maybe these books will be given to schools or other needy persons,” said Shilpi Kakkar, his daughter who comes from Mumbai at regular intervals to look after him.

Here’s what the back page of Kakkar’s visiting card reads: A house without books is a room without a window. Book shop is a temple of learning. The best charity one can do is to carry knowledge to people. If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate the whole family.

Chander Prakash of Universal Booksellers, said, “We had a long association despite being in the same business. We were colleagues working in a very fair competitive space. Closure of British Book Depot and many other shops in the country is an indicator of what online sale has done to the industry. We must understand that bookshops in any city are barometers of its intellectual capital. The city with a vibrant bookshop is also an indicator of the cultural space which it enjoys. Closure of bookshops is not a very healthy and happy sign for society.”

Prof Arup Chakraborty of Lucknow University said that only a few days back he passed the book store and saw the owner Suraj Prakash Kakkar sitting there with his staff. “I have many fond memories. I have known British Book Depot since the time I studied at Loreto Convent (at a time when boys were also given admission). When I went to Colvin Taluqdars’ College and Lucknow University, I used to visit the bookstore. I also went there with my mentor late Prof SN Qanungo. I have several happy memories of British Book Depot that catered to our needs.”