By: Dipanwita Gupta Deb
KOLKATA: One of the most awaited events in the capital city of Bengal is definitely the famous International Kolkata Book Fair.In fact,the enthusiasm with which people here welcome the commencement of the fair and the mass participation in it has given the fair, the character and charm of a festival.
Even for the uninitiated, the annual Kolkata Book Fair held at the junction of Winter and Spring is a melting pot of books of every publisher and every subject under the sun.This year the Book fair was held from 31st January to 11th February at Central Park Mela Ground in Salt Lake,Kolkata.As in the previous years, hundreds of booksellers and publishers participated in the fair making it probably the largest book fair in India.
The focal theme this year was “bonjour India France”. France,the centre of culture in Europe is a soft spot for most people of Bengal perhaps because Chandannagar,once a French colony is located in close proximity to the capital city. The pavilion of France was organised in association with the cultural wing of the French Embassy. Other international pavilions this year included neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal and lesser known countries like Colombia and Guatemala.
The book fair every year sees a total footfall of over a million people in a span of two weeks. So the ‘authentic’ Kolkatan, (specially the Bengali Kolkatan )who necessarily takes pride in being ‘literary minded’, definitely visits the book fair without fail,every year.
For me the ritual started when I was quite young. My father who introduced me to the fascinating world of books, invariably took me to the book fair every year and it gave me immense pleasure to walk amidst hundreds of books and pick a few for myself. The pleasure of getting new books during the book fair was comparable to getting new dresses for Durga Puja. It is to be understood that at that time there was no concept of eBook and we did not carry ‘Google’ and ‘Kindle’ in our purses.
As I grew up, my ‘book fair’ companions changed. Friends replaced my father. The laughter, the jokes, the street food , the gossip- all these became part and parcel of the book fair.At this time, probably the charm of new books took a backseat as the outing with friends became the greater pleasure .
The annual ritual continued.Soon the group of friends gave way to one particular friend who shared among other things, my love for reading, and so my book fair companion changed again. Now the book fair had a sort of combo offer for me, a double romance. I romanced the new books along with the man of my life as we happily explored books and shared our opinions on them.
And then there was a break as life took me away from my native city and I missed the book fair for a few years. When I returned , life had changed quite a lot. But the longing to go to Kolkata Book Fair remained the same.
Now back to my city, I go to the book fair all alone. My father still goes to the book fair and buys books but he goes at his own convenience. Those friends who once upon a time went to book fair with me have now become my Facebook friends. I am sure those of who are in Kolkata still go to the book fair but now I come to know about it only from their Facebook posts.
My boyfriend who has now evolved into my husband and father of my children works out-of-town and thus cannot accompany me. Once when he was here, both he and my father accompanied me to the book fair and it was good as all three of us are bound by the common love for reading books.
Now it is only the love for books that takes me there and being alone I can actually go through different books of my choice at my own pace without any distractions. After soaking in the sight , feel and smell of new books and buying a handful, as I sat with a glass of soft drinks looking around at the book loving crowd, I could see my journey through the book fair over the years.
I saw a little girl clutching her father’s hand walking through the fair, filled with awe at seeing innumerable books. I saw the young girl with her group of friends laughing and chattering away relentlessly. Then I saw the girl looking happy and tired holding packets of books in one hand and her boyfriend’s hand with the other. I smiled as the sweet memories flashed in my mind’s eye.
My journey through the Kolkata Book Fair is not over. I have already introduced my elder son to the magic of the printed word. He has started enjoying reading books though I feel that he is too young to actually understand and enjoy a book fair. My daughter definitely still gives preference to her teddy bears over books but if genes are anything to go by, it’s not too long before she enters the world of books. I know that soon I am going to have new partners for the Kolkata Book Fair.
