It’s a romantic journey for book lovers as they pass through hundreds of stalls with treasures of knowledge enticing them to take a look, feel and own.
The 10-day fair at NTR Stadium, beside Indira Park, is attracting people in hordes, especially schoolchildren and youngsters, who many believe are moving away from reading. Youngsters keenly go around stalls, enquiring about popular books, either novels or biographies of famous personalities, while the elders’ eagerness to know about the stock on literature and poetry is a common scene.
The fair, organised by the Hyderabad Book Fair Trust, has books in five languages – English, Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. More than 25,000 people have visited the stalls in the first three days itself, claimed HBFT secretary K. Chandra Mohan. Apart from selling books, the fair has a lot more to offer: book-reading sessions, release of new books, interactions with prominent writers. “The response has been amazing in terms of numbers, and also the quality of people visiting to understand our literature,” said noted writer Juluri Gourishankar, who is also president of HBFT.
A notable aspect is that parents are bringing their kids to the fair – a healthy trend at a time when the belief is that television and social media have led to little interest in reading.
“I grew up reading in libraries in my village, and my kids have never seen a library here. They were amazed at such a huge fair and are quite excited,” said Venkateshwarlu, a parent.
Entry is free for students and teachers, and Rs.5 for others. The fair is open till December 27.
