Omor Ekushey Boi Mela 2013 begins - The Fair of Goodreads

Omor Ekushey Boi Mela 2013 begins 

The Fair of Goodreads
Faizul Khan Tanim writes on-by some distance-the most anticipated book fair of the country

“There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”
- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, mathematician and writer

And probably the above quote was coined for these reasons – armed with ambition to buy books, sporting the green-red of Bangladesh or the Shahid Minar picture painted on faces, sporting an overall look of moral boost that would make all apprehension dissapear with the chant – books will guide us and race through our private emotions. This was visible in all the visitors, although a very low turn out of visitors on the noon of February 4, thronging the fair.

Albeit all the preparations made, plenty of stall owners are asserting that this month-long exposition has not bloomed to its full potential by the end of February 04, primarily because this fair is only for the publishers and the organizer Bangla Academy took a stand not to allow stalls outside the venue or individual bookshop stalls to be set up, which is why book supply is less. And the visitors pointed out that although this fair has been dedicated to the memory of late renowned author Humayun Ahmed, but there will not be any new fictions from him and for some fans, it is too hard to digest the feeling of visiting a book fair where their most favourite author will not sign autographs. Humayun Ahmed was also a famed dramatist, play writer and film maker and a valiant figure who inspired a whole nation to read again and that is why this dedication has been made  in recognition of his outstanding contribution for Bangla langue and literature.

A student Russell Ahmed said, “I can feel the absence of Humayun Ahmed so strong but I am here today because Humayun sir inspired me to read as well and to believe in this line by American Academic Charles William Eliot: ‘Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers’. He will live within us through his compilation book Hijibiji of published short stories, which is one of the biggest attractions of this 2013 fair.”

It is quite evident that this fair is counting less visitors this year up on viewing the records published by Bangla Academy. A total of 425 organizations participated from 630 stalls last year as opposed to 274 organizations and 460 stalls. A Bangla Academy official requesting anonymity said this is probably the fair with a low turnout, something they did not experience since the inception of this annual event on 1984 to commemorate the martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952.

An interesting aspect of this year’s fair is 45 Little Magazine stalls have been allocated to them in the little magazine corner and also, most importantly, a seperate corner for children’s books, juvenile literature and youth fictions. But unfortunately, colourful books of only Indian writers were found for little children, of course printed and published here and a lot of visitors complained how appalling it was not to find our writers writing or our publishers publishing colorful and creative books for our children.

Meanwhile, this year, the whole arena is under wifi internet to facilitate free browsing for book enthusiasts and updating on social media sites for instant notifications on hot releases of the most anticipated books.

While, a lot of stalls are still going through set up, the ones selling Humayun Ahmed books, Sheba Prokashoni, Liberation War Museum and Prothom Alo’s Prothoma Prokash stalls are attracting the most visitors. And almost all the stalls are sporting messages like ‘books on liberation war sold here’.

And an issue which was discussed most frequently at the fair premises by the visitors was of a news clip which triggered a question as to why do our Bangla sign boards, hoardings, banners in the city display spelling and grammatical mistakes? The most alarming was that of a placard written on the martyrs of 1952, not too far away from the fair - from the Shahid Minar arena – demonstrating countless spelling errors.

Like the previous years, book lovers and visitors will get 25 per cent discount on the sales of the publishers’ books while the buyers will get 30 percent over the books published by the Bangla Academy.

Alongside the publication houses, several voluntary organizations, government and non-government organizations and media houses are also taking part in this fair.

It was announced via a press release from Bangla Academy that a publisher will be awarded Chittaranjan Saha Memorial Award for the best book published in 2012 and Muneer Chowdhury Memorial Awards  for the best three publishers for selling the best quality books in this fair.

Chittaranjan Saha of ‘Muktadhara’ publishing house started the book fair at Bangla Academy ‘Bottola’ with only 32 books on Feb 8, 1972.

The academy officially began hosting the event from 1978. In 1984, the Bangla Academy Boi Mela was renamed as Omor Ekushey Boi Mela.

The fair will remain open for the visitors from 3:00pm to 9:00pm on working days, from 11:00am to 9:00pm on weekly and government holidays and on February 21 it will continue from 8:00am to 9:00pm.

*This article was first published in The Independent Weekend Magazine - http://theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=34&date=2013-02-08