A Visit to A Book Fair
They do not draw people as some exhibitions on household articles, dress materials, electrical and electronic gadgets do. Books are still far down in the list of preferences of people.
Taste for reading has not caught on with people as their social awareness is low. Even educated people, even academicians do not care to read the latest books that appear in the market now and then.
It is a sad state of affairs. This age is a technological age and there is much demand for technical and engineering books.
It is said that literary books which cater to the taste of the intellectuals and writers do not sell fast like books on engineering and technical subjects. Most of the publishing houses publish novels, short stories and books of essays.
The publishing houses which specialize in publishing technical, engineering and medical books are very few. Students should make it a point to visit a book fair whenever it is organized.
Some writers and publishers are chosen for the annual awards instituted by the organizers of the fair and they are honored. It is really an exciting trip around the book fair. The number of bookstalls should be great in number, for, it takes at least one or two hours to go round the various bookstalls and buy the books we want.
A number of publishing concerns in Chennai and some other places set up their bookstalls, small and large. Even publishing concerns in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata have their bookstalls. Hundreds of visitors throng the bookstalls and buy the books they want.
I visited almost all the bookstalls. I saw in a bookstall mini dictionaries, English-Hindi dictionary, Hindi-English dictionary, French-English dictionary, English-French dictionary etc. These dictionaries may be helpful to many.
In another bookstall I saw biographies of great men and women like scientists, social reformers, political leaders and writers. It is a truth that reading the biographies of great men and women is a great inspiration to youngsters.
In another bookstall there were engineering and medical books and books on many technical subjects like computer science, electronics etc. The books written by experts in many fields were highly priced. Of course technical books cost much.
In another bookstall which specialized in children’s books I found very interesting and useful books for children. There were textbooks for the primary classes. Coming round the book fair I found newer and newer varieties of books.
One of the important things in life is we should go on developing our knowledge. If we are in a closed world at home without reading any book or magazine we are in blissful ignorance.
The book fairs are organized to invite the people to visit the bookstalls, buy the books they want and read them.
