As hundreds of rare books and classics are dusted and neatly placed on the shelves every day, 55-year-old Sharafuddin Ansari Javed looks on wistfully, knowing it to be one of the final acts before the grand clearance.
For, 65 years after throwing open its doors to book lovers in the city, AA Husain and Co. in Abids will shut shop within a week to make way for a swanky multi-storeyed shopping mall. The mall builders have already started tearing down the rear side of the Arastu Trust Complex, a Wakf property which houses the big store, while teary-eyed employees recall the glory days.
