Mirza Yaseen Baig, the Hyderabadi Who Founded Delhi’s Popular Chain of Bookstores 

Even if you have not visited Delhi but have watched the iconic news TV show Ravish Ki Report on NDTV India, it is unlikely that you would have missed its unusual montage in which Ravish Kumar is standing in front of a small book kiosk. Located in Janpath market near Connaught Place in central Delhi, the bookshop is called the New Book Land and is the first of the four bookstores  chain that had started nearly four decades ago.  

In a recent conversation Ravish told this author, “At the time of conceiving the show, I was clear that the montage had to do something with padhai-likhai (reading and writing). And what could have been a better place than a book shop.” However, the challenge his team faced was that at most of the places, they were able to just get a frame of the books on display, while at the New Book Land, the frame of the entire bookshop was visible.

“This was also perfectly suited for the show in the sense that both were unusual,” recalled Ravish, further adding that “it is unusual to find something related to reading and writing in the midst of a crowded market,” famous for silver and artificial jewellery and export-surplus garments sold at dirt-cheap rate. Likewise, Ravish Ki Report was an unusual attempt in a heavily crowded media market to report about the people living on the margins of Delhi.    

Founded by Mirza Yaseen Baig in 1987, Baig and Sons went on to open three more bookshops over the over the years across the National Capital Region (NCR), thus acquiring the status of one of the most popular chain of bookstores across the region. Apart from Janpath, the other three bookstores are located in Aurobindo Place Market, South Extension and Gurgaon.

Baig, a native of Hyderabad, migrated to Delhi in 1970 and made the city his home for rest of his life. He passed away two years ago, at the age of 94 on November 24, 2022. He was perhaps the last surviving founder of some of the most notable bookstores across Delhi-NCR. K.D. Singh of The Book Shop passed away in 2014. In 2016 alone, the city lost two more legendary booksellers within a gap of just six months — Anil Arora of the now-defunct The Bookworm and Balraj Bahri Malhotra of Bahrisons. 

Baig entered the bookselling business at a very young age, says Asad Baig, the eldest amongst his four sons who now manages the bookstore in South Extension. “Before starting the book business in Delhi, my father ran several bookstores in Hyderabad. But all were lost in the late 1960s, partly due to the Telangana Movement,” recalls Asad.

On the advice of a friend in Delhi, who was working with a books publishing and distribution house from where he used to procure his books for the store in Hyderabad, Baig moved to Delhi. But the initial life in Delhi was full of struggle,” recalls Asad. “It was only through the sheer hard work of my father and the love and help received from Dilliwallahs that we made it our home for life.”

Baig initially sold books on the footpaths of Daryaganj and Connaught Place in Delhi. The first bookshop that they opened in Delhi was located just outside the Indian Coffee House in Connaught Place, then located at the present-day Palika Bazaar. It was also called the Books Selection Center, like the bookshop that he ran in the Sultan Bazaar Road of Hyderabad. Baig, though, had to wind up this business in a few years as the building had to be demolished to make way for Palika Bazar.

He then set up a small bookshop at Ramble Restaurant in the same locality. But that didn’t last long either as the building was razed to make way for something else. After struggling for six to seven years, Baig finally found his feet by opening the shop in Janpath and never looked back from there.       

In 1997, on the tenth anniversary of the first Midland Bookshop, Baig in a conversation with journalist Poonam Saxena said:

“I entered the books business because it is the only business where one has the chance to come in contact with educated people. And that’s what keeps me going even today.”

Till the very end of his life, Baig continued to sit at the bookstore located in Aurobindo Market daily, which is managed by his second son, Afsar Baig. He would travel up and down from Punjabi Bagh everyday, a distance that nearly covered an hour’s journey, if not more. While his third son Saleem Baig runs the shop in Janpath, the one in Gurgaon (named New Midland Book Shop) is run by the youngest son, Qaisar Baig.

Though Baig lived most of his life in Delhi, he remained connected to his roots, practicing the culture and mannerisms of Hyderabad, especially its language Dakhini. In an audio clip, he can be heard reciting the following couplet by Majrooh Sultanpuri, albeit a bit differently. In many ways, the couplet also symbolises his life journey.  

main akela hi chala tha janib-e-manzil magar

log saath aate gaye aur karvan banta gaya

(I set off alone towards my destination but

people kept coming along and it turned into a caravan)

While reciting the couplet, he can be heard pronouncing Qafile as Khaafile, a trademark pronunciation style of people from Hyderabad and the erstwhile Deccan. 

It is not surprising that Baig was fond of books, especially on Islamic history and Urdu poetry. Asad informed this author that his father frequently visited book fairs and exhibitions not to procure but to buy books for his own reading as the Word Book Fair would often sell Urdu books that are rarely available in India. 

It has been two years since Baig bid good bye to this world, but his legacy lives on and is carried out not just by his sons but also the third generation as many of his grandchildren have joined the caravan, whose foundation was laid by their grandfather.