‘It shatters my heart’: the slow death of India’s once-famous Urdu book bazaar

For over a century, poets, publishers and printers filled this Delhi district’s narrow lanes. But as profits plummet, bookshops are being replaced by kebab shops

Inside one of the oldest bookshops in Delhi’s Urdu Bazaar, Rafiq Ahmad, a film critic and writer, is scrutinising the bookshelves for material to help with his next project. Ahmad often travels from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar in search of the books he needs.

“I know this is the place where I can find any Urdu book from any era. Whenever I have to write anything, I come here for material. Currently, I am looking for books about Dilip Kumar, the renowned Bollywood actor,” Ahmad says.