Residents of Snehodiya, the senior citizens’ home in New Town, were taken on a tour of the Book Fair. And they returned with more books than they bought.

Sipping tea in the office of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, which organises the fair at the Central Park fairground, Kumkum Nandy was full of enthusiasm. A former resident of Karunamoyee, the 70-year-old Japanese teacher said: “I was a regular at the fair whenever it has happened in Salt Lake in the past since the venue was so close to my house. But this time I might not have come all the way from New Town. When I heard of such a tour, I grabbed the offer.” The bus trip to the fair by itself was great fun, she added. “We chatted and cracked jokes all the way.”

Arun Kumar Patra, 82, was visiting the fair after six years. “I used to stay in Moulali before and regularly visited the Book Fair on the Maidan. After it shifted to Milan Mela, I went there only once. Coming here on my own would have been impossible,” he said.

All 12 were all gifted books in Bengali. “We are celebrating senior citizens’ day at the Book Fair today. This is our respectful tribute to them,” said guild president Tridib Chatterjee.

Snehodiya in-charge Suparna Mitra then accompanied them on a tour of the fair.

“The guild was very generous. We were given about 40 books which we are told will be kept in a library that has been planned at Snehodiya. A room has been identified which will also have facility for playing some indoor games,” said Uma Dasgupta, a member of the Snehodiya cultural committee which is supposed to run the library.

The wait is now for an almirah to store the books in, said the retired professor of social sciences, Indian Statistical Institute, who has a library link as her late husband Ashin Dasgupta was director, National Library.