Standard Book Agency

We are over in Street No-11 in Darya Ganj. If you know Delhi, you know how crowded this area gets, especially on Sundays when the market is on. Our shop is right near the SDM office. It's a small place but it's full of books from floor to ceiling. Sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for because there are so many stacks everywhere. We spend a lot of time moving boxes around to get to things. People come in looking for all sorts of things, mostly textbooks or old stuff they can't find elsewhere in the city. It’s a bit noisy with the traffic outside but inside it’s just the smell of old paper and ink. We have been here for a long time now. The tea guy brings us chai twice a day and we sit on the wooden stools outside for a few minutes. It’s not a fancy bookstore with air conditioning and carpets. We have old fans that make a lot of noise. Sometimes the dust gets on the covers and we have to wipe them down before selling them to anyone. We know most of the other shop owners on this street. We just keep doing our work, selling what we have. It’s a busy life in Darya Ganj but we like the energy. You just have to navigate the narrow lanes to find us. We don't really do much advertising, people just find us by word of mouth.