Kolkata’s oldest bookshop opens a free library at its historic College Street premises

The oldest bookstore in Kolkata finally opened a free reading library at its historical facilities at College Street and attracted 30-40 visitors, including many foreigners.

Although it is common to allow customers to browse the comfort through new versions and classics, Dasgupta and Co., which have been at work since 1886, made a rare movement to transform some of them – the second floor of the inheritance structure of the store – with the intention of benefiting from students who are not essentially not suitable for the books.

Dasgupta and Co. In the General Manager Arab, Dasgupta said, “Education is a fundamental right and very important in the development of our nation. This free library, information and education is a way to make it easier for the society to make it more accessible. The bookstore belongs to its family from the moment it was founded.

“On average, we buy 30 to 40 visitors a day. Most of our collections use the reading room to enjoy the rare books. For a long time familiar Nobel Prize -winning Amartia Sen, we congratulated us very soon and gave him a virtual tour of the library on a video interview. He said that he rarely sufficient for a few older customers throughout the city.

“Visitors usually contain people from the United States the United States the other day, and a UNESCO team in Calcutta visited us the other day. They interviewed me and bought a few books in India, including books related to Calcutta, Das Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta and Co. were opened in 1886 by Girish Chandra Dasgupta, who came from Kaliagram in Jessore in today’s today’s Bangladesh. At that time, the village was accepted as literate than others in the region, and probably allowed Girish Chandra to establish a bookstore at College Street, the education and literary center of India’s most important city. Today, the shop has the status of class IIA inheritance and attracts about 400 customers a day, most comes for academic headings.

After the upcoming Durga Puja festivals, the shop also plans to open an online library on the cards for a while. “The Indian Union Bank approached us with a sponsorship plan [for the online library]But the whole deal is in the air for almost three years. They plan to decorate an area of ​​about 250 square meters close to the physical library and offer us six computers and three air conditioners. Readers can access any book in the world. ”

Dasgupta and Co. Probably in Calcutta, perhaps even in India, it is one of a few institutions without any changes in ownership. Mr. Dasgupta believes that online shopping will survive for books if the shop of the shop in Bengal, the Freedom Movement in Bengal, the two world wars, the division, the independence of India, the Banglades’ War of Independence and the Naxal Movement – Dasgupta and Co. will survive for books.