Hidden in plain sight close to the Ukkadam Bus Stand in Coimbatore, past the frenzy of buses and blaring horns, thrives a quiet world. For over 30 years, it has steadily fed curiosity, supported college students, and kindled the enjoyment of discovery. This is the Ukkadam Old Book Market, a place the place second-hand books inform firsthand tales.
Step inside, and you’re greeted by uneven stacks overflowing with paperbacks, hardcovers, examination guides, and timeworn dictionaries. Dust motes swirl like confetti within the daylight. If you pay attention carefully, you’ll hear the rustle of pages being flipped, the murmur of titles being learn aloud, the banter of booksellers greeting regulars.
For bookworms, this market is greater than a retail area. It is a routine.
The market has 31 stalls organized in a neat area; every one distinctly curated. Some stalls specialize in faculty and school textbooks; others inventory fiction and biographies, amongst different genres. One might have a stack of books on Thermodynamics subsequent to a field of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven novels. Another would possibly shock you with a Sidney Sheldon adjoining to class IX Mathematics textbooks. “Whatever the syllabus, whatever the level, we try to keep something for everyone,” says KM Fazulul Rahiman, a veteran bookseller.
The market has 31 stalls
| Photo Credit:
Aayisha Ansar
June and July mark the busiest time of the 12 months, when the brand new tutorial season attracts in a regular stream of scholars and oldsters. Guides for JEE, NEET, UPSC, TNPSC, and NET fly off the cabinets, alongside with faculty textbooks and examination manuals. If a specific version is unavailable, they go a step additional by attempting to supply lacking titles from elsewhere. They additionally assist by suggesting completely different publishers, authors, or books others in the identical age group or examination class have discovered helpful, one thing that reminds one which this place is alive, not automated.
While business bookstores and digital platforms usually dictate studying by bestsellers and algorithms, the outdated e book market does one thing quietly radical. It listens. If a customer mentions a e book from 10 years in the past, likelihood is somebody right here could have it, or know who would possibly. The sellers ceaselessly alternate inventory, refer prospects to 1 one other, and even maintain operating lists of requested titles.
In a sense, this is what units the Ukkadam Old Book Market aside: its neighborhood spirit. “We work together, not against each other,” says Okay Mohammed Raja, who has manned his stall for a number of years. “That is why the market has survived so long. If a customer walks away happy, even if it’s not from my shop, that is a win for all of us.”
What units the Ukkadam Old Book Market aside is its neighborhood spirit
| Photo Credit:
Aayisha Ansar
A way of generosity fills the market. It is not unusual to see a scholar stroll in with a tight finances, and depart with a comfortable coronary heart, having taken a lot of books again house. Most sellers right here grew up valuing schooling and see themselves as taking part in a small function in another person’s tutorial journey.
The market is additionally a trove of forgotten gems. Between engineering guides and nursing handbooks, you will see that all the pieces from classic travelogues to pulp thrillers, youngsters’s comics to political manifestos.
In a world that prizes pace and effectivity, this sluggish, attentive method feels nearly meditative. Customers are inspired to browse, to linger, taking them again to outdated occasions. There is no strain to purchase, no hovering gross sales pitch. Time right here bends a little in another way.
Time right here bends a little in another way.
| Photo Credit:
Aayisha Ansar
Despite challenges, from altering studying habits to the dominance of on-line marketplaces, the market has held agency. Though gross sales dipped through the pandemic, Mohammed says, “We have bounced back. Students and parents are returning.”
Regulars know they’ll get sincere pricing, high quality inventory, and actual suggestions. And newcomers are sometimes shocked, not simply by what they discover, however how they really feel whereas discovering it. Most books listed here are additionally priced a lot under most retail value.
While on-line bookstores provide comfort, they can not replicate this degree of private consideration, provides Mohammed. The sellers communicate from expertise, usually guiding readers to raised editions or newer variations, and warning towards duplicate or pirated copies, which have turn into a widespread downside lately. “We get people bringing in cheap, poor-quality prints they bought online, with several pages missing, diagrams blurred. We do not entertain that; we believe in giving people books that last,” says Rahiman.
Shopkeepers are specialists in finding uncommon and priceless books from a number of tons of stacked there.
| Photo Credit:
SIVA SARAVANAN S
There is one thing particular about second-hand books: every one carries the mark of a earlier life, a folded web page, a scribbled title, a espresso stain.
Each morning, as shutters rise and books are dusted off, Ukkadam’s Old Book Market resumes its quiet magic. Rows of books, seasoned sellers, and readers able to take heed to the tales tucked between the pages.
The Ukkadam Old Book Market is open on all days, 9.30am to 9pm
Published – June 09, 2025 12:56 pm IST