A visitor to the Delhi Book Fair would be surprised by the absence in general of regional language book stalls, especially those that display offerings from the southern Indian languages. In addition to a plethora of stalls that stock English books, one can find rows and rows of stalls displaying and selling Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Urdu books, but the southern languages are not to be seen. The Tamil, the Kannadiga and the Telugu book-lover, it would seem, would need to go to his or her home town or city to buy books, or procure them through other means.
There was a smattering of Malayalam book stalls, but none displaying those in Telugu, Tamil or Kannada at this year’s National Book Trust fair in the capital. Even the Malayalam stalls there were just two; one of them represented a Malayalam newspaper.
There was a solitary stall that sold Telugu religious books. Its owner said he found the cost of putting up a stall and the rental and transport costs exorbitant. He said the need to pay Rs. 50,000 towards rental and transport weighed heavily on the distributor’s mind. Then there is the matter of food and accommodation costs.
Asked how exhibitors from other languages managed it, he said most of the major publishers bear the cost of exhibition display. Hindi publishers in fact earmark separate funds for exhibitions. The southern publishers find it too costly.
One southern publisher felt the respective State governments must give incentives and provide facilities like accommodation in the State bhavans in order to encourage publishers to open stalls at events in the national capital.
Sadly, no individual or organisation or non-governmental organisation in Delhi seems interested in promoting the regional languages outside the respective States. Either they feel the promotional activities within the respective States are adequate, or they prefer to look the other way, wary of the burden falling on them.
Book fairs and literary festivals are occasions where book-lovers get an opportunity to buy books of their choice outside their home towns. If the State governments that claim their love for the mother tongue and extol the virtues of teaching in the tongue, themselves turn a blind eye to this issue, regional languages will deteriorate.
The argument is that book publishing costs have gone up steeply, impacting sales and profitability. While it cannot be denied that publishing a book has become a herculean task, one wonders what kind of promotional incentives the State governments are giving to encourage book publishing and help meet the needs of book-lovers.
The argument that the advent of online reading has had a crippling effect on conventional book publishing and reading does hold some weight. However, it cannot be the only factor for the disappearance of regional book stalls.
The printed word has its own value and no technology can replace the conventional book format. Just as in the case of newspapers, printed books have their special place in our daily routine despite the online invasion. Books remain an inseparable part of our existence.
John Updike summed up the feeling of many book-lovers. “Books traditionally have edges. Some are rough-cut, some are smooth-cut, and a few — at least at my extravagant publishing house — are even top-stained. In the electronic anthill, where are the edges? The book revolution, which from the Renaissance on taught men and women to cherish and cultivate their individuality, threatens to end in a sparkling cloud of snippets. So, bookseller: defend your lonely forts. Keep your edges dry. Your edges are our edges. For some of us, books are intrinsic to our human identity.”
veturisri@yahoo.com
