A year after Awad Bafanna’s death, his brothers still sorting books

Over one lakh rare books categorised so far comprise only about 40 % of the total collection

Tedious task: Khaled Bafana (sitting) and his cousin Osman Bafanna arranging books at Haziq and Mohi Rare Book Suppliers, in old city on Sunday.

It has been over a year since Khaled Bafanna and his brothers have been sorting out the huge collection of books at Haziq and Mohi Rare Book Suppliers.

Ever since their oldest brother Awad Bin Mohammed Bafanna passed away in September 2015, their prime focus has been on arranging the books in an order.

Categorisation of books

“Only Awad, fondly known as Abid by many, knew where exactly the books were. We have categorised books into history, Islamic literature, medicine, Urdu, Persian, Arabic and a few other subjects,” said Khaled, who is the youngest among all his siblings in the Bafanna family. Over one lakh rare books categorised so far comprise only about 40 % of the total collection of their late brother.

Huge collection

After their oldest sibling passed away, finding books for customers was a little difficult as none of the brothers knew how to find them in the labyrinth of books. Mr. Awad had collected all of them nearly half-a-century ago. “It used to take us about 10 days to find a book for a customer earlier, but now we just need a day or two,” said Osman Bafanna, one of Khaled’s older brothers.

Together, the five brothers have also roped in two persons to help them with the categorisation in the store. The entire work is expected to get over in another year, said Khaled.

“In fact, people who used to supply rare books to our late brother are now contacting us,” he added. “Books on history in English and Urdu are mostly sought after by the customers, including those from abroad,” Khaled pointed out.

His two sons Ahmed, Ibrahim and Osman’s son Zubair also lend a hand to him at the store, which may soon start its own website and Facebook page to help people reach them. Mr. Awad is survived by his five brothers Ali, Abdallah, Salem, Osman and Khaled, who run the store together, situated near Mahboob Chowk in old city. The shop is open from 12 noon to 7 p.m., and Mr. Khaled can be contacted on 93940 21930.