বাংলায় পড়ুন
Kolkata’s International book fair first and foremost is a much anticipated yearly event just like that of the Durga Pujas. But that’s not where the likeness ends! Just as the Durga puja has a lot more going on than just the puja, the Kolkata Book Fair is also not just a fair for books! There’s a bit more to Kolkata Book Fair than meets the eye or the senses. Without going into another treatise regarding various books on offer, we have listed out a few other attractions in this year Book Fair:
Portrait Artists: Getting one’s portrait sketched is a 30 minutes affair in the Book Fair thanks to the very talented artists who can make life like portraits of you. This surely leaves us with a small window of opportunity to make ourselves feel royal.
Adda and Food: Bengalis essential adda over earthen cups of tea or coffee for wintery evenings to cotton candy or a generous helping of jhaal muri and phuchka or idly dosa, ghoti gorom or the oily fish fries and rolls; the Book Fair is paradise on earth for the ‘addabaaj’ and ‘khaddoroshik bangali’. With food stalls struggling to keep up supply with their customer demands, it might be fair to say that the food stalls do better business than a few of the book stalls!
Buying stuff: Other than just books, one gets to buy toys, message tees, junk jewelry, soap bubbles, posters of all sorts, environment friendly bags, paintings and many other articles at a bargain. All the more reason for bargain loving Bengalis to not miss the book fair.
Rubbing shoulders with celebrities: If one keeps their eyes peeled, there’s a high chance that he/she shall get to meet his/her favorite celebrity in the book fair. What follows after celeb spotting are the innumerable ‘Facebook live videos’, selfies and tagging as many friends as possible on social media platforms.
Ideal place for dating or to meet old flames: Love is in the wintery air and with Valentine’s Day just round the corner, this year’s book fair will be a great place for love birds to scroll through books together while given the huge number of footfalls anticipated this year, there’s a high chance for catching up with old flames and take a trip down memory lane of some sweet and sour memories…
Free music: The book fair shall be a great place for music lovers to listen to small groups with guitars and mouth organs or ektara singing folk rock as well as modernized versions of Rabindrasangeet. Who can tell if they are the ‘next big thing’ in the world of music …
Little Magazines: Last but by no means the least, alongside big publication houses, the book fair has a place reserved for ‘little magazines’ which look like small newspapers. Budding writers who have a book inside them publish their literary works themselves in the form of little magazines and some of the recognized writers have at some point in time contributed in these little magazines. Little magazines are one of the chief attractions of this years’ book fair.
Even with the advent of Kindle and e-books, the 42nd International Book Fair with its peaceful hustle and bustle and the smell of freshly printed books and good food is a go-to place for people in Kolkata.
