The oldest existing bookshop of Kolkata - set up in 1886 on College Street - is, for the first time, setting up a branch, that too in a heritage building that was the home of barrister-educator Asutosh Mukherjee, the father of Bharatiya Janata Party founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee.
The house stands in Bhowanipore in south Kolkata, and the new branch of Dasgupta and Co. will be located on the ground floor of the building. It will be inaugurated on May 1 by 95-year-old Chittatosh Mukherjee, former Chief Justice of Bombay and Calcutta High Courts and a grandson of Asutosh Mukherjee and a nephew of Syama Prasad.
Unlike the College Street institution, which was accorded Grade IIA heritage status on July 1 last year and which is in the process of turning a part of its premises into a free library for students, this shop will stock more of literary titles than academic books and also serve as a venue for adda.
“We started the process about six months ago, because a lot of people living in south Kolkata were telling us to open a branch there. They would say that College Street had become too crowded and parking was a big problem there. They would say, Why don’t you open a place where we can gather in the evenings for adda?” Arabinda Dasgupta, 72, managing director of Dasgupta and Co., told The Hindu.
According to him, Bhowanipore was the first address of the Dasgupta family in the city when Girish Chandra Dasgupta relocated from Kaliagram in Jessore (now in Bangladesh) to open the shop in 1886. Eventually they shifted to the neighbourhood of Beniatola because of its proximity to College Street.
“It’s a homecoming of sorts for us,” Mr. Dasgupta said. “But what makes me happier about opening the shop there is that nearly 80% of bookshops in south Kolkata have shut down over the years. But what makes me happiest is that Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee will be inaugurating it. Believe me, he is a living encyclopaedia,” Mr. Dasgupta said.
He added that while much of Asutosh Mukherjee’s personal collection of books had been donated to the National Library, there are still many titles remaining with the family which they now want Dasgupta and Co. to preserve for posterity. “It will be an honour for us to add those books to our archives. As it is, it is an honour to open a shop in that house, which has some 45 rooms and is one of the most important heritage structures of Kolkata,” Mr. Dasgupta said.
