The Metro construction, its infrastructure blocking the front of his shop, the faltering visitors, the slide in the sale of books - all came one after another. It was like loving books in the "time of cholera".

Arora, who started the shop in 1977, said shops that have stayed "loyal" to books - those redolent with the musty smell of paper and ink and not the aromatic whiff of coffee - are becoming vulnerable before the determined march by book chains which, like the big retail departmental chains, are filling up space in glitzy malls - almost a physical and cultural invasion.

"More and more malls are having book shops. It is not a happy change," said Arora.

Arora, who was into liquor business before he opened the bookshop, spent three decades delving into books. From this week he will put them up for sale. By the time it is time to shut shop, most of the books would have disappeared.

A decade ago the sale of second hand books every Sunday on the pavements of Daryaganj in the old part of Delhi would invariably nudge its way into any discussion on books. In Kolkata too, a decade ago booklovers would trudge from one end of the city to the other to take a look at the books lining up the pavements on College Street.