Friday, December 1, 2017

USED BOOK, MAGAZINES, LPS AND POSTERS SHOPS BY THE LOUVRE IN PARIS












I visited Paris in November 2017. Saw these green iron-box stores selling used books, etc by the river Seine i.e the other side of the Louvre museum. It reminded me of the used books sold in Majestic area in the 80s...on Kempegowda road near Mysore Bank. The book-sellers displayed their books on the compound wall of 'Gas' College i.e. the Government Arts and Science College for boys. 
The difference is the books in Paris had little dust on them while the ones in Bangalore were covered with a lot dust...mud from the streets and exhaust from the traffic. Another difference is that the booksellers in paris store their books in the green boxes and lock them and leave them there...I think the guys in Bangalore had to lug them home (I am not sure as I was never there late in the evening). I felt a wave of nostalgia as I saw these books and almost bought one  for nostalgia!







This guy above is the seller storing his books before locking up.




The setting sun's rays are on the Louvre museum, the other side of the river Seine while it's dark on the opposite side with the used book shops cast in shade (these shops are literally 'pettige-angadi'. Those who grew up in 70s Bangalore would recall the pettige angadis in developing suburbs of Bangalore ...these stores were literally a huge wooden box on 4 stilts and the shop-keeper would sit inside it and sell things like condiments, cigarettes, & beedies beetle leaves & beetle (areca)nuts, bananas, matchboxes, a few vegetables, coconuts & greens and other things. )


Above is the locked storage holding the books. The owner has gone home I think.
Below is cartoons by a famous artist from India i.e. Mario Miranda about the same scene. I got it from his book(Mario de Miranda, pub in 1999, hardcover). Apparently Mario visited Paris in 1984 i.e. 33 years ago but the scenes still looks the same! I am sure these cartoons would have appeared in the then published magazines in India ...maybe the illustrated weekly of India if it was still on?





Below is Mario's depiction of a famous books shop which I visited (but no photos as it was too dark when I went) i.e. Shakespeare and company





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