After lockdown, cyclone Amphan hits book traders hard; hundreds of books destroyed

The impact of Cyclone Amphan was felt throughout the city, but at the oldest book market of eastern India, if not the entire country, hundreds of books damaged in last week’s cyclone could be seen on the pavements and tram tracks in Kolkata’s iconic College Street area. The uprooted tree branches beside cable wires and dozens of book lay a testament to the storm’s impact.

Sanat Kumar Saha, a 58-year-old book vendor stated that he the next morning when he arrived, he saw the majority of his books, swimming in water within his stall.

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"I have a family of 7. This shop is my only source of income. We have seen floods before, never lockdown. The loss can't be calculated. The next morning when I came from Belghoria, all these books were wet in the water", lamented Saha.

It all started with the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, then the cyclone down six days ago leaving thousands of bookshops in the area battered.

A man selling books for the past 50 years in the market told us that the floods in 1978 were devastating but nothing like the current one.

"I had seen floods in 1978, never seen lockdown, this is more devastating. How do I calculate the losses, even at the lows it will be 25-30k worth of loses" said Suren Mallick, who is running his book store for the past 50 years. Mallick went on to state that when he came on the day after the storm, most shops were closed.

"The ones(wet books) we see on the streets are destroyed, they cannot be returned or used. When the next education cycle will start, then something good will happen. The lockdown was bad, but cyclone made it worse" said a disheartened Suren Mallick, who has seen it all in the iconic College Street corridor.

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