May it be a literary session or book exhibition or even the food division, people found their own worlds wherever they thronged.
In fact, there were only a few people who listened to the various literary sessions attentively sitting on the front rows.
Many people, majority of them being students, kept on visiting the book and food stalls, and once in a while the conference hall was becoming a shelter for them to rest for some minutes and discuss the specialities. “It is in fact a fair, but a fair of literature. It is not that all people should sit in the conference hall and listen to the speeches. They can’t also. For many people, this annual event is a venue to meet their like-minded friends, who live in far away areas. Many people reserve the days of Sahitya Sammelana to purchase the books of their choice once in a year,” said litterateur Subraya Chokkadi, who was busy in selecting books.
A new world
For students, the entire Sammelana premises was a new world to explore the things of their own interest. For many elders, the four-day event seemed to a place of rest, keeping themselves away from all troubles.
“I have come with my whole family. Let the venue be anywhere, it is our practice from the past many years to visit the place of Sahitya Sammelanas and stay there till the completion of the event,” said one Mr Govindappa, a resident of Raichur.
Though grand sales were not witnessed in all book stalls, some shops came out with enthusiastic and positive replies on their business. “Compared to the first day, today is far better. People have started picking up books,” said N Ravikumar of ‘Abhinava’. Visitors were also found appreciating the menu of the lunch, who did not forget to tell that “whatever may be the literary discussions in the conference hall, we should not blame the great arrangement for food”.
Separate sessions on the problems of coastal Karnataka, globalisation and the state, problems of Karnataka as a whole, status of women were held, though most of them were out of schedule.