ISLAMABAD:
The sparkle of laptop screens and the limitless scroll of cellular apps are quietly rewriting the studying tradition of Pakistan’s capital, the place second-hand e book bazaars as soon as thrived as vibrant areas of reasonably priced studying, stand eerily quiet immediately.
they’re the casualties of a digital shift that has changed the enjoyment of shopping cabinets with the comfort of PDFs and on-line libraries. “Within the final twenty years, our gross sales have dropped by practically 70%,” stated Mustafa Qureshi, proprietor of a long-running e book centre in Islamabad.
His phrases replicate a harsh actuality for sellers who keep in mind when weekends meant lengthy queues at their stalls, bustling with college students and e book lovers. For many years, Islamabad’s second-hand bookshops — from Aabpara and Melody to Jinnah Tremendous and I-10 — served as havens for readers of all ages.
Right here, college students discovered reasonably priced textbooks, researchers uncovered reference works, and informal guests stumbled throughout uncommon novels or hidden gems. Ebook bazaars weren’t simply markets; they had been cultural areas that provided each data and a way of discovery.
In the present day, that environment has evaporated. Rows of once-crowded stalls now sit practically abandoned, their cabinets lined with books that few cease to the touch. Shopkeepers blame a mixture of things: digital libraries, cellular apps, inflation, and even altering life.
One of many largest challenges is expertise. College students who as soon as relied on second-hand markets now have free research materials at their fingertips. On-line repositories, cellular apps, and PDFs have turned course books into downloadable recordsdata.
“Hardly anybody comes anymore. Everybody says they have already got the e book in PDF,” stated Tariq, a bookseller in Melody. One other vendor in I-10 Markaz admitted that some days he sells not more than two or three books, removed from the revenue he as soon as relied on to assist his household.
Rising tuition charges and inflation have compounded the issue. Households dealing with tighter budgets prioritise solely important course materials, typically in photocopied type, whereas leisure studying has dropped sharply.
The previous behavior of weekend book-hunting has misplaced its attraction for a youthful technology absorbed by smartphones and social media.
Dad and mom, too, really feel the shift. “Once we had been college students, these stalls had been our most important supply of reasonably priced books. Now my kids hardly decide up a bodily e book — they simply research on screens,” stated a father of two from G-10.
One other mom highlighted how frequent syllabus modifications add to their burden: “Yearly the syllabus modifications, so youthful kids cannot even reuse the books of their elder siblings. We’re pressured to purchase new books at full value, which makes previous e book centres irrelevant and provides to our bills.”
College campuses have additionally altered the commerce with their tradition of photocopying. College students typically go for cheaper photocopies or scanned chapters as an alternative of shopping for even discounted reference texts. Seasonal e book gala’s and the rise of enormous retail chains add extra competitors, drawing away patrons who as soon as sustained small stalls.
For long-time sellers, the decline carries each monetary and emotional weight. “We used to earn sufficient to assist our households simply from e book gross sales. Now, it is changing into unimaginable to outlive on this enterprise,” stated Muhammad Arshad, who runs a stall in I-10.
One other vendor at Jinnah Tremendous pointed to the mud gathering on once-coveted titles: “Even uncommon novels or historical past collections that when attracted readers are actually ignored. Younger folks merely do not have the identical curiosity.”
Not all corners of the commerce are collapsing. In F-7 Markaz, bookseller Farid Abbasi has noticed a steadier demand for previous, uncommon, and out-of-print English and Urdu works. Classics resembling Aag Ka Darya, Raja Gidh, and Shahab Nama proceed to draw a loyal readership.
However even Abbasi acknowledges that different components of the market have collapsed nearly totally. “Fifteen years in the past, we stocked cabinets filled with magazines – sports activities, vogue, music, present affairs, and worldwide names like Reader’s Digest, Time, Newsweek, and The Economist.
In the present day, with a lot content material freely obtainable on-line, their demand has naturally decreased,” he defined. E-papers and digital editions of Urdu and English newspapers are actually extra common, providing instantaneous entry on cellular screens.
The modifications have stirred nostalgia amongst long-time residents. “These bookshops had been as soon as a part of Islamabad’s id,” stated a retired trainer from G-13. “You might discover uncommon novels, historical past data, and reasonably priced research guides right here. Now it seems like that period is disappearing.”
What’s vanishing is greater than an financial commerce. The decline of second-hand e book bazaars represents the erosion of cultural areas that when fostered curiosity, human connection, and the pleasure of discovery. In an age of speedy digital comfort and yearly syllabus revisions, the very survival of those literary havens is in query.
For sellers like Qureshi and his friends, the long run is unsure. Their stalls stand as quiet reminders of a metropolis’s fading relationship with the printed web page — and of a time when turning paper leaves meant greater than swiping a display screen.
