There is no New Town Fair this year but the New Town Book Fair is happening, though much later than usual. The two fairs usually are held in conjunction.
“Fairs are connected to winter. This time, winter is over but at least our book fair is happening,” said Hidco and NKDA chief Debashis Sen.
The organisers are raising a toast to an achievement. “Till last year, we were dependant on NKDA, the organisers of the New Town Fair. Once the fair ended, we used the same infrastructure by paying the decorator for the extension. NKDA got the administrative permissions for us. This time, when we realised that the New Town Fair would not happen, we tried to do it on a small scale at Nazrul Tirtha. But so robust was the response from publishers that we dared to take on the challenge to do it here by ourselves,” said president of the organising committee Urmila Sen.
“Book fairs are a part of the Bengalis’ intellectual make-up. Even Kerala, the state with the highest literacy rate in India, does not have so many fairs. The then chairman of National Book Trust U.R. Ananthamurthy was stunned to see the crowd at our Book Fair. That is why it was prudent to postpone the international fair,” said poet Subodh Sarkar, who attended the inauguration of the fair’s seventh edition last Friday.
He commented on the reduced assembly at the event. “Last year, the seats were all taken, prizes of contests were being given out to so many residents and there were dhakis playing. It was a completely different atmosphere,” he recalled.
General secretary of Publishers and Booksellers Guild Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey was also present. “We had held a meeting in November to decide whether the international fair could be held as scheduled. Elderly residents of Salt Lake requested us not to shift the venue from Central Park but hold it later. The Covid situation then was precarious. So we had to postpone it,” he said, urging people to gift books and keep books in their drawing room. Poet Joy Goswami was also present.
The fair will continue till March 7, 2pm to 9pm.
