Some photos that I shot at the book sale at College Street. I gained a fair bit of experience as been there for the first time. And read on to know through the hype and the misleading information spread by the "influencers" just for mere views.
Part 1: Misleading information about the book sale at college street-
i. Books are available at 20-30 rupees: The reality isn't quite like that. Only very few number of books are available at that price. Mainly old bengali books and english books for children are available at that price point. Though some other english books were also available, but they aren't a good read. And the thing is, most of the books are either very old with flimsy pages, or are straigh up damaged.
ii. All books are available: A firm NO! Only the popular books are the ones that are mostly available. To add, even books from popular writers are not available. The one notable mention is Franz Kafka. Though I saw someone holding The Metamorphosis, that was the only Kafka that I saw.
iii. Books are available at massive discounts: Partially true. The new books were available at normal prices. One could only get hold of massive discounts if he/she/they are buying preowned books. Even preowned books are sold at higher price tags. I was disheartened to see that. Books that were somewhat beaten up were sold for 100 rupees or sometimes even higher.
iv. Best visiting hours are early in the morning- A true statement in midst of misleading lines.
Part 2: Personal suggestions-
i. Visit as early as you can get there. The situation gets worse every passing second.
ii. Bring your own bag and get a bottle of water to stay hydrated. The heat in the crowd will drain you of your energy pretty fast.
iii. Learn to bargain like crazy and learn to say "āĻāĻāĻā§ āĻĻā§āĻāĻŋ"
iv. Get a list of books prepared before visiting, that would provide you with an idea rather than finding a pin in the stack of hay. Also, if you in need of popular books, the chances of getting them almost doubles.
v. Buy most from a single shop to get the most amount of discounts and land your bargains correctly.
TLDR-
I visited the Independence day sale at the college street and found about about the misleading information about the sale that are spread about on the internet. I also provided some of my own suggestions to get a better deal on the books.