A Pansodan Old Book Seller
By San Lin Tun
Sweat streams down his cheeks under the blaring sun. U Hla Win, one of many street vendors of Pansodan Street, lays out his bundle of old books, post cards, magazines, calendars and newspapers. He hopes today is a day where he can make some money selling his old items from his sidewalk shop. His shop opens around 1 p.m, what seems like official time for all street vendors to open.
“Good afternoon, U Hla Win!” He turns his head to my loud greeting in Burmese. U Hla Win is sixty years old but looks much younger. He is wearing his usual shabby hat, clothing and longyi with his distinct stubby moustache and beard. He does not care much about his appearance, opting for a low profile.
“How’s today?”, my usual question.
“No book is sold yet,” U Hla sighs. Luckily for U Hla, one book attracts my attention. Its title is Love written by Rosemary Haughton. The cover is old enough to fit my collection. I ask him the price, then, he replies, “It’s 500 Kyat.”
The deal between us is set. But I didn’t come here only to buy books but to talk with a man that I see almost every day. After I asked ‘where are you from?’, Alone Township, his story seemed came out naturally…
“I started [selling books] when I was in my early 20s, when I got married. I’ve never done any other jobs apart from it. I have a family, I have got two daughters. One of them is a graduate from Distance University.”
It is difficult to say why so many book vendors, like U Hla, opened shop on Pansodan. Another reason could be the famous writers that walk down Pansodan on their way to the BTS building, Lawkanat Art Gallery and other Burmese cultural venues. The other book vendors may hurt sales, but if U Hla came to Pansodan for the literary atmosphere, he made the right decision.
He has been doing this job since 1975. In those days he made much more money selling books. He could earn Ks 40 or Ks 50 a day, a lot in those days. It was still a long way from being well off, but enough to support a family. The interest in new reading material has dropped off since then. Nowadays, he needs to earn Ks 4000 to Ks 6000 a day to cover his daily expenses.
Anyone can meet U Hla in front of the Post and Telecommunication office on Pansodan Street. Though life is tough on him to some degree, he still has stamina and resilience to run his shop. He still loves what he does.
