From biographies of perennial newsmakers to books on historical figures who refuse to vacate their space in literary discourse, everybody is vying for space at the ongoing Delhi Book Fair. Its relevance in shaping up the minds of young readers in terms of fine tuning their secular leanings, brushing up their language and learning the truth of our political, historical personalities as well as business tycoons hasn’t diminished over the years.
Heroics of brave hearts of the soldiers to books authored by controversial authors like Wendy Doniger, Salman Rushdie are all fighting for space as their saleability would eventually decide on which rack they need to be kept.
Three books on Aurangzeb are vying for attention at the National Council for Promotion for Urdu Literature stall as it wants readers to get a correct picture of the Mughal emperor, on whom all types of rumours, insinuations and scandalous stuff continue to fly . “Among historical personalities he is the most researched persons, especially after the Aurangzeb Road was renamed as Abdul Kalam Road. True, “Aurangzeb had negative as well as positive points but he ruled Hindustan for five decades. He was not an iconoclast as he is made out to be,” says Mirza Abdul Qaym Naqwi, Director Read and Lead India Foundations. He shows a book on Aurangzeb authored by Om Prakash Prasad, Head of Department of Patna University.
Interestingly, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, which publishes holy books , has a stall right opposite the NCPUL. As I walk into the stall with prayers rendering in my ears, I am greeted by a voluminous “Ramcharitmanas” in Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati and English. I am informed that an Urdu print is available but the informer cannot ferret out the book to support his contention. “Best thing is that our books are tried and tested. Plus points are they are affordable, have rich content that has been read by families while rendering prayers over the years,” says Ashok Sharma.
Just like like an annual pilgrimage for devotes, the DBF is is a must visit for school as well collegiate students who want to avail the opportunity of owning economically priced academic and general knowledge books. Never mind that these books do not have the official stamp of approval from the NCERT. Or are not part of their syllabus. Bookish knowledge is what teenagers are yearning for even if it comes from a secondary source – crinkled, second hand booked as long as the style is lucid, literature comprehensive and writing skills to give them an edge in examinations. After all, knowledge coming from any source is welcomed and celebrated by bookworms, many of them come from far off places like the North Campus, West Delhi and satellite townships of Gurgaon and Noida.
“I am on the lookout for books on subjects which are generating interest. Of course, popular publications like Macmillan, Westland are not here as they open stalls during the World Book Fair. But the books on sale here are sufficient for me,” says Suryansh, a Mass Communication student from the Asian Academy of Film and Television in Noida.
To attract children, Gita Press has brought out Chitrakatha on Gods like Krishna, whose birthday was recently celebrated in myriad forms across the city. The idea is to tell about the life and times of the Almighty through pictorial presentations. “Inquisitive readers are surprised that we have a stall as they had read that we had shut down for two months,” says a volunteer.
One found that government approved books are endeavouring to instil patriotism among children. So, the NBT is showcasing illustrative books on valiant soldiers, who laid down their lives in the service of their motherland. “Pictorial books on all Paramvir Chakra recipients like Abdul Hamid, Arun Khetarpal, Manoj Kumar Pande are special highlights. Their valour and exploits on battlefield have been well documented,” says Mukesh Kumar of NBT.
Participants at 22nd edition of the DBF include publishers from Government bodies, private publishers and those operating from Delhi and Walled City. Dealers have put up books in surplus depending how much space one has on bookshelves. Almost a giveaway; three books, published by foreign publishers, are available at Rs.100. “The best part about this fair is that these books can be yours at reasonable rates. Never mind that most of them have been bestsellers three or four years ago. For anyone who want to cultivate reading habit but does not want to buy exorbitantly priced books at Khan Market or Jorbagh, this is the place to be,” says Ramneek, a Class XI student.
To make children get hooked on to books, a number of monographs are available. The idea is to gradually introduce young readers with the characters, words, sentences and repeat them sufficiently so that they remain engrained in their minds. Gopi Chand Narang’s monograph “Let’s Learn Urdu” is intended to promote book reading ability habit among little ones who are conversant with the language.
The Fair is on till September 4 at Pragati Maidan.
