Walking among the neatly-spaced stalls at the 38t edition of the Chennai Book Fair, an intriguing logo catches the eye. A black hat and sunglasses on a circular yellow background, Manimekalai Prasuram’s logo looks quite like an invisible man. A number of people are lined up at the billing counter, and most of them seem to be clutching the same book.
“It’s the collected adventures of Detective Shankarlal written by Tamilvanan,” explains Chockalingam, who is manning the stall. “It’s Tamil pulp fiction and ever since it was published 40 years ago, its popularity has not waned,” he says. So Shankar is India’s Sherlock Holmes? “Something like that,” he grins, adding that people were so taken with the character that they thought he was a real person. The publishers have been part of the fair since it first started.
To stand out among the 600 and more stalls at the fair organised by BAPASI, artist Rohini Mani has displayed a six-foot-tall sculpture depicting a person reading in the Kalachuvadu Publications stall. A bunch of curious children gather around the piece titled ‘Discovering Uniqueness’. They are fascinated by the newspapers peeking out between the strands of jute rope wrapped around it.
Rohini says, “I love the process of rolling the jute rope around the newspaper. We are learning each day, so it depicts the process of completion and that inspires me a lot. By using materials that people can relate to, it is art made accessible. It is also made to depict a human form and not a man or woman.”
Apart from the numerous Tamil books on display, there are whole Enid Blyton collections, encyclopaedias, Knowledge In A Nutshell books for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, young adult novels and a plethora of activity books for kids. The “biggest dictionary in India” is also on display: Universal Deluxe Dictionary (English-English-Tamil) which costs Rs. 499.
While the children gleefully pick up Geronimo Stilton and Harry Potter, parents congregate at any stall that stocks learning material for the upcoming board exams. Surprisingly, there are practice test papers available from class six upwards. A lot of e-reading options, fun and educational CDs are also available.
For a more interactive reading experience, and to inculcate the reading habit from as young as seven months of age, Grolier Asia showcases a reading pen. With a special set of books that have sensors within the pages, the child only has to tap on the sentence, and the bee-shaped pen will read it out to them.
Javed, deputy divisional manager, says, “The communication skill development package also works on vocabulary, accent, pronunciation and phonetics.
The basic standard package consists of around 40 volumes of books and costs Rs. 39,000, which can be paid in instalments as well.” The idea seems to be quite popular, with several families gathering for a demo.
The fair itself is well-organised, with helpful and polite volunteers, wide corridors between the rows of stalls, and adequate ventilation thanks to the high-ceilinged tent: it’s a pretty hot Sunday, but despite the sheer number of people, the crowd isn’t overwhelming.
The Rs. 10 entry fee is well worth it for a bibliophile to spend a few hours wandering around books, but be sure to make some space on your bookshelf for all the books you’ll be taking back.
