Mocktails, music, and cosplay — students kept busy at the Book Fair

The 45th International Kolkata Book Fair not only drew young bibliophiles in droves but also offered youngsters a platform to showcase their talents and gain expertise in practical knowledge application.

Edugraph caught up with some of the students.

I worked as an on-ground reporter at the Book Fair. I covered news stories on the Book Fair, went live on Facebook at 6pm every day and took a tour of the Book Fair ground, interviewed writers and publishers. As a budding reporter, I learnt how to handle tricky situations and awkward responses from the audience.

This experience has helped me understand the interviewer-interviewee communication, time management, post-production process, creating LIVE stories, and brainstorming on ideas for articles. I am now more confident about on-ground reporting for future projects.

— Prerona Munshi, second year, MA, Mass Communication and Journalism, Sister Nivedita University

I am part of the digital media crew of Sister Nivedita University. I was running around the Book Fair with my camera, covering all the events. have covered the inauguration as well as multiple book launches and other events. Before every event, I had to check and set up all the equipment to ensure I was able to get live audio and video from the ground.

Handling the crowd and taking proper footage and visuals without any glitches is challenging. The most important thing I learnt is handling the pressure and multitasking on the ground for over 10 hours. It is a task to ensure that the live feed on social media doesn't get disrupted. These few days have made me more responsible and solution-driven.

— Udit Sengupta, third year, BA, Mass Communication and Journalism, Sister Nivedita University

The students of the hotel management team of Guru Nanak Institute of Hotel Management made refreshing mocktails. We also showcased fruit and vegetable carving.

My job was to maintain accounts. This taught me entrepreneurship skills.

— Abantika Dey, fourth year, Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Guru Nanak Institute of Hotel Management (JIS Group of Institutes)

As part of the technical team, we created an automatic hand-sanitising system using a DC water pump, proximity sensor, TIP32C transistor and container.

When one brings a hand near the proximity sensor, it senses the hand and then the DC water pump pumps the sanitiser through the pipe on the hand. When the hand is removed, it stops pumping.

— Sumit Saha, third year, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Dr. Sudhir Chandra Sur Institute of Technology and Sports Complex (JIS Group of Institutes)

I lead a seven-member team called Solectro. We built a smart solar motorbike, which has been displayed at the Book Fair. It took us seven months to build it. It has features like solar charging, smart GPS, keyless, RC control solar panels, normal charging, and back camera.

We decided to make a renewable energy vehicle because of the rise in petrol price and the high emission that is causing harm to the environment.

— Souhridya Bhattacharjee, fourth year, Electrical Engineering, Institute of Engineering and Management (IEM)

I was a volunteer on behalf of the IIHM. Our department, Accommodation Operations, hosted a flower arrangement session on March 8. I was responsible for taking photographs and videos. I also helped the faculty make all arrangements for the session. We had to interact with the guests as well.

One major takeaway from the experience would be learning how to make nice flower arrangements.

— Mrinal Kumar, third year, Accommodation Operations, International Institute of Hotel Management

I joined Japan Curry in July 2021. It is a youth organisation that brings the various facets of Japanese culture to the Kolkata audience. On most days, I was dressed as Doraemon at the Japan Pavilion.

The smiles on children’s faces and their requests to take selfies with me were really special. Since we did not have any books on sale. We hosted a lot of activities like singing and origami.

— Sabarna Sinha, second year, BA, English Literature, Jadavpur University

A Happi Coat is a Japanese attire consisting of a coat, belt and headgear. Young visitors clicked pictures wearing this attire. While posting them on Instagram, they tagged us. It was a photo contest. If their photographs got selected, they won prizes.

With so many visitors, I hardly got a chance to step out of the stall. It is my first time visiting a Book Fair. I checked out some origami books because I really like art.

— Gargi Dey, second year, BA, English, Indira Gandhi National Open University

We formed Yume, a Japanese music band, in March 2019. Yume means dream in Japanese. We are all former Japanese language students. I sing and play the keyboard and at times I play the ukulele.

The other members of the band are Deepro Banerjee, vocalist; Anoubhav Bhaduri, drummer and percussionist: Abhrajit Banerjee, who plays the violin; and lead guitarist Duke Pande.

— Anusha Banerjee, a 2022 graduate from St. Xavier’s University, drummer and percussionist

We are hosting various types of activities at our stall like singing, quiz, and games like Basket the Ball. All these events have been designed by the students. We had roster-based duties. We had more than 20 students coming in every day. We interacted with new visitors every day. I checked out Khuswant Singh’s Train to Pakistan.

—- Somesh Sinha Roy, first year, MBA, EIILM, Kolkata