It may appear people are moving away from books, given the presence of many forms of entertainment. But that may not be the case, as the pleasure one gets out of reading a book cannot be replaced. The book grips you while giving you complete freedom.
You can turn the pages, you can keep it aside and return to it whenever you want. That was writer UR Ananthamurthy dismissing apprehensions about books losing their place in our lives, at the inauguration of a book festival, organised by Indya Comics and Bangalore University. The expo will be open till September 11.
Nearly 250 stalls will be put up. “This is our third time in the city. Last year, when we took part in a similar event, our stock was over in days. We had a good time. All our items are popular,” said Mansi Sachdeva of Kids Educational Aids. The thin turnout on the first day did not matter. “The crowds would come pouring in,” she said.
“We have to display regional language books. But English titles far outnumber them. That’s what sells in Bangalore,” said Shivshankar KN at the stall. Paperbacks by popular names like Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, Jeffrey Archer, Danielle Steele, David Baldacci, Tom Clancy, and Michael Connelly can all be picked up for just Rs99.
“This is our first time in a Bangalore book fest. These are just a few titles from our collection we have at our stall in Koramangala,” said A Salim at the Gift@99 stall. Even large hardbound books on cooking, travel, and health are on offer for Rs99. Not to be outdone, others are offering books at Rs50 and Rs100. There are combos too - five or six or 10 books for Rs99.
Other titles that one might not get to see are also available at the ‘Old and rare books’ stall. Hachette is displaying off beat books that are not readily available at stores. The entire ‘Teach Yourself’ series, coffee table books and the Everyman Classics is on sale here. The last one comes for Rs63,000 and with a laptop worth Rs22,000, said Vivek Chandra of Hachette.
About 600 affiliated colleges are taking half-day leave from classrooms to attend the fest. Children’s books have taken up plenty of space at the shelves here. Not just English books but even Urdu, Hindi, and Kannada books can be found at the National Book Trust stall. However, these too don’t add up to the number of English books on display.
