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World Book (un)fair!

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Balajee, Jan 15, 2018.

  1. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    “I will” I said.

    “No you won’t” said the wife.

    “No you won’t” the daughter parrpted the wife

    So I became the victim of what Thomas Jefferson called “The tyranny of majority” and didn;t.

    The whole debate was about how I should proceed to the World Book Fair. Normally I walk from home to the venue Pragati Maidan. . But neither my family nor i am sure 99% of humanity would agree with me that it was “walking distance” For them it was collapsible distance.

    Normally, my family, aware of my walking fixation would have let me go. But this year the mother –daughter duo thought there wew too many cars and speed maniacs on roads as if they were on moon or mars in earlier years. So I agreed to be dropped at the venue by another speed maniac the daughter., who never ceases to surprise me with her rich, ever increasing vocabulary of unprintables hurled at those who wouldn’t make way for our car.

    And she dropped me at the wrong gate because normally that was the gate from which there was entry into the fair. So like lot of others. I had to trudge to another gate that was as far from where I was dropped as the ground was from my home. The problem was there was massive construction going on in Pragati Maidan for a new exhibition cum convention complex.

    Because of that the book fair had shrunk in size as many buildings had become martyrs to the bulldozer. True there was a large group of visitors l but I suspect that most of them were there for weekend outing and were not bibliophiles In fact stalls selling street food had larger crowds than the ones selling books.

    First I stumbled into the pavilion for children’s books. Nope I really was not interested in them The stalls were packed with adults but few kids. The grownups probably wanted to buy books that they thought the kids should read instead of books the kids wanted to read. So they left kids at home s home to ensure that they didn’t throw a tantrum at the fair.

    Wandering through the pavilion free landscape I stumbled into a oasis in the midst of that desert—the European Union pavilion, Where I managed to buy a couple of Italian and German books. Then in one more building which has so far escaped the bulldozer’s attention, I bought a few Indian pulp writings in English. It always amuses me to go through the works of desi Dan Browns and Grishams trying to keep up with the originals. Imitation is not only the best form of flattery but cam be real ROFL stuff.

    The only stalls that had large enough crowd to cause a stampede were the ones offering bestsellers (read PULP) for a song, say hundred for three and all that stuff. I steered miles away from them unwilling to kick the bucket prematurely stomped to death by the rushing feet of a massive crowd and quickly left the venue unwilling to inhale anymore the dust so kindly provided by the bulldozer operators.

    If they wanted to hold the fair couldn’t they have chosen some other venue or just not hold the fair this year.? It was all damn unfair.

    When i returned home I narrated the Pragati Maidan horror story to DW who looked at me with her mouth agape.

    Soon, the daughter who had gone out walked in announced that she would go the fair the next day.

    “No you won’t “ I said.

    “I will” she said.

    “No you won’t “ the wife said parroting me.

    So the daughter joined me in the tyranny of majority club.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2018
    Angellic, Viswamitra, Srama and 6 others like this.
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  2. ashima10

    ashima10 Platinum IL'ite

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    Nice write up !
    The gate sagas i have faced many times....and as far as i remember I have bought really less books from fairs and more from normal book shops .

    However the whole idea of surrounded by world class books is what took me to Pragati Maidan every year.
     
  3. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Very nice @Balajee
    I felt like I was walking through the book fair too.
    I felt sad when you mentioned that you did not see children at the children's section.

    Also thanks for sending me into nostalgia.
    While in Chennai I used to love going to the beach becsue invariably on our return my dad would buy books from the Triplicane roadside vendors. We used to find very rare and lovely books. The trip home was always a joy, loaded with armful books and the delicious anticipation of reading for the next many days. Some books are still with me.

    Hope you got some good books.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2018
  4. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Balajee,

    that was a nice read. I for one, have never been to a book fair in India. I have only seen or heard about it from my friends, where else but on FB!

    You know, often I hear from people who visit me from India is that what they miss the most about India is the street food. I grew up in India too but off late, I have begun to wonder if I lived and enjoyed life in India like the way people do now.

    Now, I have found my answer.

    Coming to children's section, you know if I were there, you would have found me there too. I hope that some of the adults buying those books read them along with their children. It would make a world of difference to them and their children.

    I do hope you came back feeling it was worth the trip, oops the drop off from your daughter and not worth the walk or do you feel if you had walked, you would have gotten more from this whole trip? ;-) We sure got this snippet from you!
     
  5. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Balajee,

    You are brave to venture into the book fair and I had never been to a book fair in my life. However, my source of books used to be British Council Library and Connemara Public Library in Chennai. But I found some very rare books only in Alwar/Mary roadside book store in Luz corner. Later when so many people wrote about this roadside book store, I realized the significance of this roadside book store. Many film personalities have written about how finding a particular book in this road side store changed their lives.

    Viswa
     
  6. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Balajee,
    I felt brave enough in the virtual world to walk with you in the world bookfare at Pragati Maidan. The Chennai bookfare is going on now, but I do not have the courage to visit. Further I have piles of books crying for read which I bought two years back at the bookfare.
    Once upon a time I used to be a bookworm. Happy reading for the German and Italian books you bought.
    PS
     
  7. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    I am increasingly coming round to the view that browsing books at leisure in a bookshiop is far far better than getting caught in the hustle and bustle of a book fair. Also online bookstorea are virtual book fairs offering an unlimited number of titles. Looks like book fairs will soon be history.
     
  8. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Kamala Chennai road side booksellers are an institution. They stock many rare books you don't get in bookshops. There was a time when book fairs were a major cultural evnts but now they are saly fading awaty
     
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  9. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Sabitha the European Union Pavilion where I bought German and Italian books compensated for the missing of usual features at the fair. Frankly I think children should be allowed to choose what they want to read instead of adults forcing their choices on them. Lot of guys who comke to the fair just come, browse and go to eat street food like tikkis and pani poori.
     
  10. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Viswa roadside book stores often offer rare tresures. My book collection started with books bought from roadside shops in Karol Bagh and the regal building in Connaught Place.(Now Rajiv chowk). I used to get books from the American library, British Council and Max Mueller Bhavan too. Now I still borrow books from Alliance Francaise library.
     

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