‘Boi Para’ is the endearing nickname coined for the iconic College Street Book Market. This 1.5 km long stretch in the Northern fringe of Kolkata, wears the proud badge of the largest second-hand book market in the world and largest book market in India. However, if you have been there you would know it is so much more.
Boi para is rather an emotion. A symbol. A symbol of resilience, that has withstood the wear and tear of time and changes. A symbol of silent yet sure victory of paperbacks over soft copies, the smell and touch of books over the convenience of the technology powered suaver kindle cousins. Boi para, for me is an anti-thesis to the usual present fast-paced, mass produced world. It has decided to slow down, to pull off from the race, to savour the glory and accept the failures and gracefully maintain its own…