On the 41st Chennai Book Fair

A Detour for Books

by

Divya Lekshmi M S, II MA English

It was a Saturday evening when we went for the Book Fair at St. George’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School grounds. The event was organised by the Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI). Since it was a weekend, the entry was itself exciting because we followed a huge crowd of visitors there. The school children derailed their queue in excitement to see the exhibition. The visitors included the elderly to the little ones on their mothers’ arms. I went with my friends, Joy and Evangeline. And we’re thankful to Joy’s aunt, who had taken the tickets in advance for us. So we saved time instead of queuing for the tickets amidst the crowd.

The Book Fair featured 10,000 new books, displayed in stalls put up by over 700 different exhibitors. Each stall had its own specificity. The fair had the presence of a computerized index named ‘Bhavishya’ which could identify specific stalls and books for visitors. I found the stall of  Malayala Manorama, having their publications-  magazines, yearbooks etc for the exhibition. There were so many stalls for children’s books and we found kids enthusiastically searching for books. Some stalls were decorated with hanging paper birds and creative objects. There were stalls for environment protection and pollution control, exhibiting posters with titles ‘Save Water’, ‘Save Environment’, ‘Save Earth’. . . . There were also audio books available there. To catch the attention of the voracious readers, there were T-shirts for sale with designs by portraying the logos inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet and also of H.G. Well’s Invisible Man. People might have bought more of the merchandise than books. There were 100 T-shirts with six designs and almost 50% of the Shakespeare collection was sold out.

There was a 10% discount for all books to catch the buyers. Books were on offer - 3 books for Rs. 100 and Children’s books were available for Rs. 30, Rs. 20 and Rs.50. For kids, there were also colouring books, image-intensive alphabet pamphlets and collections of nursery rhymes and word games to choose from. Tamil literature was rather well represented too. There were over 400 stalls dedicated to regional language books. There was a special stall for visually challenged readers too. There was a provision to order the Braille version of their favourite books and the copy would be delivered to their address within a few days.

“Many books that have faded away into the labyrinths of our memories resurface here. Harry Potter tomes, Lord of the Rings opuses, Amar Chitra Kathas and Shikari Shambhu comics, Malory Towers and the St. Clare series, Goosebumps collections. . . you name them, they are here. The 41st edition of the Chennai Book Fair is also the best place where the old and the new coexist. Works of the 2017 Man Booker Prize winner George Saunders share space with classics by Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Works of Elizabeth Gilbert, Sudha Murthy, and Anuja Chauhan are some of the favourite picks for those gunning for popular fiction. For the serious literary geeks, there was the Paul Beattys and Arundhathi Roys to fall back on.”

                                                                                       -      The Hindu, (18 January 2018, Metro Plus)

There was an exclusive stall for ‘infinitheism’, exhibiting the woks of Mahatriya Ra, the renowned motivational speaker. I found my prize book, the Unposted Letter, presented by our dear professor Dr. Samuel Rufus. I am so glad to see the book at the exhibition and I am thankful to Rufus sir for the wonderful present he has given me. I have also found the complete collections of my favourite author Shobhaa De. I have read her book The Speed Post and I saw her latest book, Seventy and to Hell With it!

The book fair was indeed a paradise for literature students. The entire fest had an ambience of a bazaar too. We did not miss the popcorn, chana, appalam, and gobhi baji. We coincidentally met our college mates, teacher and some old friends there. We had a great time together and left the premises with not just books, but memories of a well spent evening.