This is a book fair where one can buy new books as well as dispose of old ones. “As long as they are not text books,” said an NKDA official. The 11th New Town Book Fair started off on Wednesday and among the 105 stalls at the fair in City Square, there is one by NKDA.
“We are accepting second-hand books on behalf of Zero Shop (the solid waste management museum on the Major Arterial Road),” said the official.
The book fair has gone for an overhaul, in both its logo and ground planning. The book stalls are inside a hangar while the other stalls are inside another. “The ground condition was terrible after successive fairs held here. So we retained a couple of hangars from the trade fair which ended on December 15,” said Sanjay Jana, secretary of New Town Boimela Samiti.
The entrance to New Town Book Fair 2024
The book stalls feature publishers like Ananda Publishers and Dey’s Publishing in Bengali, and Penguin Random House and Oxford Bookstore in English. Some, like Sister Nivedita University and Iskcon, have set up stalls outside the hangars. “We are distributing prasad as well as selling religious books, lamps and incense sticks,” said a devotee, who frequents the Iskcon-run cow shed in Patharghata.
Citing instances of Albert Einstein publicly admitting his mistake and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan his shortfall in performance, poet Joy Goswami explained why he had stopped publishing his poetry. Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the NKDA chairman, said the fair gave government officials a chance to get close to residents attending the fair. Hidco vice-chairman H.K. Dwivedi said the stall would showcase services provided by the utility. “Hidco and NKDA are returning to the fair after the pandemic,” an organiser said.
Visitors did not face the usual winter challenge of mosquitoes, possibly thanks to frankincense burning . “We had requested for fogging. This was NKDA’s idea,” an organiser said.
Publishers and Booksellers Guild president Tridib Chatterjee and general secretary Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey attended the opening. “It is said that books are in conflict with the digital world. But books are also riding the digital wave to generate publicity,” Chatterjee said. Dey said while children were still eager to listen to stories, the adults are apathetic to sharing stories with them.
The theme of the fair is Tagore’s Raktakarabi, as it is the centenary of its publication. The gate, the stage backdrop and souvenirs are named after the play. The stage is named after ‘treeman’ and author Kamal Chakraborty, who died this year. A science contest will be held on January 3 with school students bringing in models. A chess contest will be held on January 4. Other regular contests like recitation (December 27), music (December 28) and drawing (December 28) will held in this edition too.
Vector control measure at the New Town book fair 2024
The band Lakkhichhara performed at the end of Day 1. Another band, Dohar, will play on December 30.
Sudeshna Banerjee