Source : Times of India
From bibliophiles and schoolkids to book hoarders,the 26th edition of the World Book Fair, which began on Saturday, saw a good response over the weekend. However, visitors found a lot missing this year and said that the vibe was not the same, thanks to the reduced space in which the fair is being held due to the redevelopment at Pragati Maidan. While some visitors found the theme – environment and climate change – boring, others complained that there were very few stalls that sold books for ₹100.
‘It feels like any other fair rather than Delhi’s iconic annual book fair’
This year, the fair, which is organised by the National Book Trust (NBT) and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), is being conducted in half its usual size because of the redevelopment at Pragati Maidan. Shalini Sharma, a homemaker who lives in Janakpuri, said, “I’ve been coming to this fair for the past five years. Earlier, coming to the fair meant entering a world full of books. You could sit here for hours, read, or just stroll in the area. But this time, it took me just 20 minutes to figure out the stalls for the genres of books I was looking for. It feels like any other book fair in the city rather than Delhi’s iconic annual book fair.”
Shyamali Arora,an IT manager who lives in Saket, added, “The feel of the book fair is missing. There must be thousands of stalls, and maybe lakhs of books. Par har saal wali baat nahi hai. Any regular visitor will say that it feels like a reduced version of the annual book fair. However, we are glad that it’s happening, at least.”
‘I won’t read about climate change just because I was complaining about the smog’
The theme of this year is environment and climate change, and so, a huge variety of eco-fiction books and those on the environment and is available at the fair. However, despite discussing and complaining about the smog, Delhiites aren’t interesting in reading about climate change, it seems. An attendant at a stall which had several books on the environment, said, “People are least interested in buying books on the environment. However, it’s good to see them discussing our books.”
Uttam Kumar, a corporate employee from Noida who was carrying three biographies on current politicians, said, “I come to the fair every year to see what’s trending in reading. And every year, there is a theme – from women-centric books to even Bollywood, one will be surprised with the volume of content available on every topic.But this year’s theme of climate change is not that appealing to me.”
Roopali Saxena, a lab assistant who lives in Malviya Nagar, said, “I’m into science fiction and I liked the content available at the fair. But I’ll not buy a book on the environment just because I’m carrying a mask in my bag and was complaining about the smog this morning.”
