Shopian (Kashmir): A big fan of famous writer Arundhati Roy, Aquib Nazir of Padapawan village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district is preparing to leave for Srinagar to buy his favourite author’s new book, Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction. An avid reader, Aquib (30), has to travel more than 50 km in the chilling cold to reach Srinagar to get the book.He left early because he has to come back home as he has no one in Srinagar where he can put up for a night.“I could have been saved from this trouble had any bookstore in my district had the book,” says Aquib.Before going to Srinagar, Aquib searched for the book in almost every bookstore of his district’s main market, but he couldn’t find it.The main district market has around 22 book and stationery stores, but none of them have any non-academic books available except for a few Urdu poetry books that have gathered dust.“I didn’t search in small village markets because I know what I couldn’t get from the main market can’t be available in small markets,” says Aquib.Like Aquib, many other book lovers in Shopian have to travel to either Anantnag or Srinagar to buy such books. Local book and stationery stores are full of books, but only the ones that are prescribed as part of the school, college and university syllabi. A big head nod indicating ‘no’ from shopkeepers is the answer one gets when they are asked about books on history, or literature, or philosophy.Also read: An Uphill Task: Students in Kargil Village Attend Online Classes Atop a MountainA mathematics tutor and a book lover, Ruheed Amir, says that this is one of the reasons why reading culture in Shopian is “so bad”.“If someone wants to read a book, he first has to spend extra Rs 220 on travel to buy the book of say, Rs 400. In a way, this is the highest amount of tax a student has to pay to buy a book. He also has to spend one whole day travelling,” he laments.At present, in the entire market, only three English non-academic books are available: Wings of Fire and Ignited Minds by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhaghat. Nothing on history, literature, politics, etc., written in the last one-and-half decade is available in stores.“For a book lover like me, a market without books is like the earth without air. It is a shame for all of us that even books written on Kashmir are also not available in this market,” laments Rameez Ahmad.Poor resourcesThe district had only one book café and that too was closed a couple of years ago. The government district library also doesn’t help the readers as the library is continuously shifted from one rented building to another.“I don’t know where the library is. The last time when I visited the library, employees were arranging the books on shelves as they had moved to that location just two days prior to my visit. Now they even have moved out of that place,” Rameez adds.Although there is a government library in Shopian, it isn’t of much help to book lovers, as it the library continuously shifted from one place to another. Photo: Rouf Fida.Although the library was established in 1972 and has more than 17,000 books in its catalogue, it still doesn’t have a building of its own.Since the district is infamous for its militant infestation, the internet in the district most of the time remains suspended. This is one of the reasons why most of the items ordered online can’t be delivered to Shopian.“When you type the pin code of Shopian, which is 192303, it says that no seller is willing to ship to this pin code, or it shows up that the item is not available on this pin code. Now if there is a book that is only available online, we have to get it delivered to some address in Srinagar itself. Then, we have to go there to collect the book, which is almost the same process that goes into buying a book from a bookstore in Srinagar,” says Saqib Ahmad, a post-graduate history student.Also read: An Uneasy Quiet in Kashmir Is No Guarantee That All Is WellThese reasons have led many readers to move to Srinagar for work and study. Salman Huzaif, a bibliophile and an engineer by profession, moved to Srinagar two years ago. He was positioned in Shopian but he insisted his company post him to Srinagar.“I visit bookstores in Srinagar almost once every week. I don’t know whether you understand it or not but a reader always wants to be around books and bookstores. Being close to the bookstores also helps me to avail different offers that bookshops give,” says Salman.Preference for academic booksReaders blame that book and stationery owners only prefer selling academic books because of the big profit margins for the sellers. They allege that the tie-up between schools and booksellers gives them the reason to sell academic books only.“Almost every school has its own book store. Now, the school that doesn’t have its own book and stationery shop gives a contract to an outside bookseller. The contract is so well designed that only that bookseller can sell the books prescribed by that school’s syllabus. In return, the bookseller pays the school a share in the profit,” says Aijaz Shah, father of a ninth class student, Haris Shah.As there is little to no demand for non-academic books, shopkeepers do not prefer to stock up anything besides regular school and college textbooks. Photo: Rouf Fida.The store owners, however, say that there are a fewer number of students who actually love to read. Rest are taught how to become doctors and engineers only.“I opened this store in 2005. I offered students books on almost everything. I had also bought around 50 classic novels and till 2011, I could only sell seven novels and the rest I sold to rag pickers in 2017,” says Mubarak Ahmad Wani, owner of Wani Kitaab Ghar.Wani says that there is no reading culture in the district schools or even in colleges. Students only ask for books that will help them to qualify for any competitive exam.Also read: Bengal: How a Village Library Is Helping Students Who Can’t Attend Online ClassesAnother book and stationery owner, Mohd Showkat says, “My shop is close to a government degree college and in my last 16 years of experience, I have not been asked by students for non-academic books more than 10 times. Because they are more worried about their grades and not about their overall development.”Showkat blames teachers as they want students to refer to the notes that are prepared by them alone. They don’t encourage them to read non-academic books.Emphasising the need for building a reading culture locally, a university professor laments that a student’s worldview remains restricted when they read only what is prescribed in the curricula.“So the bookshops should keep books on literature, history, politics, philosophy, etc., on display. When a student looks at a book, he might buy it also. This will improve the reading culture in the district,” he suggests.The district has 529 government and 53 private schools, one government degree college, one polytechnic college and a nursing college.Rouf Fida is the editor of a Srinagar-based online portal The Curtain Raiser.
