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Books of every colour
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Down an energy drink before you head towards the Bangalore Book Fair. There are 300 stalls to browse through
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PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTHY
WIDE RANGE The colourful spread at the children's stalls are irresistible, even for the adult
Only if you a good half day to spare should you head towards the Bangalore Book Fair. Well, there are valid reasons to say this. To begin with, you have to battle through the chaotic traffic before reaching Palace Grounds. Then when you catch your breath, the man across the ticket counter informs you there are a whopping 300 stalls. You curse yourself for not having known this earlier, else could have armed yourself with a packet of glucose. Steeling yourself to elbow your way through five-man-deep crowds, you stop dead in your track: except for those minding the stalls, you barely see some nine people. Of course you'll be the 10th, if you think that's a decent number. But then, you console yourself: this is high noon on a weekday.
The very first stall is an eye-catcher. Navneet Publications is laid out well with colourful books, mostly for children. Bright and cheery story books (see if you like this bit of detail, Thumbelina wears a langa-blouse), hordes of painting books, colourful scrapbooks, art and craft paper... a mind-boggling range! Navneet has an entire spread of notebooks, slant pads, conference pads and pencils in lovely, earthy stripes, and all in eco-friendly plantation wood. Niyogi Publications also has plenty for children. Move on and you'll find stall after stall selling dictionaries — all kinds, all shapes and all possible combinations. You can find tiny ones that can go into your purse to huge ones best carried home in a pushcartyou. There is English-English-Tamil and Sanskrit-English-Hindi... you may just stumble on many more unlikely combinations.
Rainbow spectrum
In such a mammoth exhibition, if you don't find stalls that make for two ends of the spectrum, then there's hardly any excitement. So you have Shanti Prakashana, selling books on Islam and Hinduism and is making an effort to bridge a polarised world. If you're as lucky as this writer, you might even eavesdrop on an interesting conversation between a Muslim gentleman and kumkum-sporting Hindu. Of how there is going to be a third World War soon, how only 10 per cent of the population will survive, how we will come to be ruled by one religion and that's when the Prophet, Christ and Vishnu will merge into a single entity!
Then there is Sanatana Sanstha with a very clear Hindutva ideology, complete with costumes too — a yellow and red cap and a matching scarf! They have not just books but also CDs that sternly tell us how to celebrate birthdays the Hindu way. Osho is there as is Sri Sri Ravishankar, and their forerunners Swami Chinmayananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
It was staggering to see NCERT stall with books on Economics, Political Theory, Accountancy and Sociology for 10th standard kids. Can schooling get more specialised? For fiction lovers, there are loads and loads of books at Rs. 100 apiece.
There are many Kannada bookstalls — Navakarnataka, Sahitya Bhandara, Geeta Book House, Abhinava, Sapna Book House — but they haven't put out a great collection.
However, it felt good to see books one read as a child, the cover still wearing the same colours. The stall I sorely missed from last year was that of Leftword Publications. And those huge Che Guevara posters they had splashed across. Pity that.
As your feet and overloaded arms ache, one sighs contentedly over a nice bargain. Good to go home with trusted old friends who take you places where you've been and where you will.
The book fair is on till November 19. Entrance is on Ramana Maharshi Road.
DEEPA GANESH
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