Last day of New Delhi Book Fair attracts families

On Sunday, the New Delhi Book Fair ground was the perfect venue for “families’ day out”. While book-lovers made a beeline for the stalls, a few others just chose to hang around near the food stalls and “catch up” with friends.

The bargain counters attracted a large number of people, especially teenagers with most of these counters selling off thrillers and romantic books at throwaway prices.

For Viduoshi, a student of class 10, the fair was about taking home a lot of “good fiction reads”.
Even with the board exams approaching, she was in no mood to look at the academic collection at the publication houses, she added.

“I am here only to buy story books. I am not going to look at reference books today,” said the teenager.

B S Rao, who brought his two daughters to the fair said the bargain counters were a great attraction with a few counters selling three books for Rs 100.
The counters with “imported books” attracted children in large numbers.

“I have been intending to bring my children here since last week. But we ended up here only on the last day. My children have chosen a few books from the bargain counter. I am going through these books before I buy them these,” said Rao.

The graphic novels counters saw a massive rush with several children complaining on missing out on their favourite collection because of exhausted stocks.

“Since the past few years, both my son and I come to the book fair mainly for the collection of graphic novels. Even though online shopping is common now, it is not the same as coming to the book fair,” said a woman in her mid-thirties at Penguin book stall.

For 71-year-old R N Singh, this book fair was all about collecting rare books.
“I come here every year for checking out collector’s items, especially books which are otherwise out of print,” said Singh.

For serious readers, the fare was not just about looking at the collection. They promptly knew their “stalls and books”. “Zubaan is the one-stop book stall for me every year,” said Neha, a college student who holds specific interest in gender studies.

The hall housing regional book stalls was mainly dominated by elderly crowd who found it the perfect place for catching up with contemporary vernacular literature.