HYDERABAD: The unique-smell of yellow-paged old books greets a visitor to Haziq and Mohi book store tucked away in an alley behind Chowki Masjid in Old City.
Popularly known as ‘Baba ka dukaan’ among locals, the 50-year-old book store has a unique collection of over 25,000 books in English, Parsi, Arabic and French on diverse subjects, ranging from Islamic religion to 19th century literature.
Khaled bin Mohammad Bafanna (42), who runs the shop now, inherited it from his late brother Awad bin Mohammad Bafanna after he passed away last year.
“My grandfather Salem bin Ali Bafanna was very interested in reading and collected all sorts of books from anywhere he found, from neighbours to book markets. He trained my brother Awad, who then got the idea of setting up a shop. After grandfather’s death, he looked after the shop and I assisted him in delivery. Brother had memorised the names of most of the books and could tell which was located where,” Khaled said.
Now, the Bafannas have adopted to the changing technology. “Sorting of books according to language and subject is under process, and soon the book list would be entered into a computer and we would be online, Insha Allah!,” he exclaimed.
Asked about the prices of the books, Khaled said they would be decided depending on their rarity and demand. “After the books go online, prices will be fixed for each of them,” he said.