My First Ever Visit To The Delhi Book Fair 2014

It was my first visit to the Book Fair in New Delhi and I must say that it did not disappoint me at all this time. My love for books is like an unending love story. I love reading them, whatever the subject is. Going to a place full of books is something which I would eagerly wait for throughout the year and would definitely not give a miss.

Last Sunday, I went to the oldest book fair of India. Before proceeding any further, let me take you through a walk back memory lane and tell about its history. The first ever book fair held in Delhi was held on 4^th April, 1972. The fair was inaugurated by the then president of India, Shri VV Giri. Since, the time of its inception, the book fair is held every year in February at Pragati Maidan. Each year, book lovers from all parts of the country throng here in search of their favorite books.

The Book Fair is held every year with a theme and this year was not an exception. This year, Kathasagara, which means celebrating children’s literature, was the theme. Hence, I could see a number of tiny tots holding the hands of their parents crowding the book stalls. This reminded me of my childhood days when I along with my parents and grandparents used to visit the Book fair in my mother state, Agartala.

I did not have a specific stall in mind as I completely had no idea about the publishers who had put their stalls, but I must say that I had an invigorating experience at the Book Stall after watching such a huge gathering of people and the enthusiasm with which they were purchasing books. This reassured my firm belief in the fact that- Books unselfishly deliver knowledge to everyone irrespective of people of any age.

So, I started my book tour in the book fair by visiting a stall by Orient Black Swan. Books from diverse fields like Social sScience, Media & Arts and Engineering were present here. Social science and engineering were not something that would interest me, hence I decided to flip through the pages of few books related to the media which talked about the Indian Film Industry and its historic journey. 

Moving on to the next stall, I was delighted to see the name ‘UPKAR PRAKASHAN’ at the entrance. I was taken aback to my school days when our General knowledge teacher used to ask us “Did you purchase the GK book from Upkar’s Prakashan?”. Even today, I have a collection of General Knowledge Books from this publisher in my house.  As I entered the stall, I was amazed to see how a group of youngsters curiously searched for some books. The shelves were all stacked with books for various competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, Bank clerks, CAT, IBPS and many more. It was good to know that even after so many years UPKAR continued to be the leader of the competitive exams.

 

My next stop was at the Author’s Corner. This was the first time when I watched an author giving a live interview. It was Mr Taj Hassan, an IPS officer cum Joint commissioner security, who was talking about his recently released book-The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam. He talked about his inspiration to write the book and for whom he has written it. 

Once, me and my friend moved from the author’s corner, it was time for some photo shoot. Yeah! You heard it right, photo shoot. A large plywood banner with the pictures of different books and animated characters was put on display, which served as a surreal background for a good picture. All were busy taking selfies and pictures standing in front of it. Hence, I also did not miss the chance of getting clicked.

 

Once the photo shoot was over, we continued our journey and started to loiter around until we found our next interesting spot at another hall, where the guest country Polland had put on display  various books. I went up to one of the representatives who was in charge of the stall ‘Warsaw book Fair’ (the annual book fair, which is held in Poland) and had a conversation with him and inquired about the timings of the fair.

It was time to call it a day as my expedition for books finally came to an end. I really had an interesting time at the Delhi Book Fair 2014 and would love to come back at this place again and again in the years to come.