Shyam Book Depot

You can find Shyam Book Depot at Kanhiya Hazari Ka Badamadhav. It is a small shop, and we have been here for many years. Every inch of the walls is covered with books, from floor to ceiling. We carry a lot of school textbooks and local stationery that the neighborhood kids need. It is not one of those modern bookstores with a cafe and comfortable armchairs. It is a place where you come to find exactly what you need for your classes. The aisles are narrow because we try to fit as many books as possible onto the shelves. Sometimes you have to use a ladder to reach the ones at the top. It has that distinct smell of old paper and ink that you only find in places like this. We don't have a fancy computer system, so we mostly remember where everything is by heart. When it is time for the new school year to start, the shop gets very crowded and noisy. We have an old wooden counter where we wrap the books in brown paper. The street outside is always busy with people going about their business. We know almost everyone who walks through the door by their first name. It is a very traditional way of running a shop, and we like it that way. We don't do any advertising; the shop has just always been part of the neighborhood. We keep it open late on some nights if the work needs doing. We have an old stool in the corner.