DVG Road to host Pustaka Parishe on January 17

After Kadlekai Parishe, Basavangudi in Bangalore is now hosting Pustaka Parishe (book fair). It is not a venue for book sale. Here hundreds of Kannada books will be displayed at one place and visitors can pick any one book of their choice free of cost. No one can pick more than one book.

Srushti Ventures, a forum of youth, is organising the event, first of its kind in Bangalore, on January 17 on DVG Road in Basavangudi. The objective is to promote the habit of reading and make better use of old books.

The organisers have been collecting old books from donors, for the fair. Litterateur G Venkatasubbaiah, K S Nisar Ahmed, Chandrashekhar Kambar, Siddalingaiah, Doddaranage Gowda and others have already donated books from their collection.
They have collected some rare books from the late Justice Nitturu Srinivasarao’s home library. The organisers have opened an office in Basavangudi for this purpose.

Techie’s brainchild
Rajkumar, a software engineer by profession, actively involved in the activities of Srushti Ventures, said he and his friends in the team have been engaged in collecting books for the fair. They respond to calls from those wishing to contribute books. If the donors were not in a position to send books on their own, the team members collect at their doorstep.
“So far we have collected 3,000 books. We are expecting 5,000 to 7,000 books for the fair. The public are appealed to bring books for the parishe and go back with one book from the fair,” he said. Members of the team have taken a week’s break from their office job to collect books.

Except text books, journals
The fair is only for Kannada books. Except text books and magazines, all types of books - fiction, science works, philosophy, religion - are accepted. These youths got inspiration for the event from the old books dumped in their houses.
“I had stopped purchasing new books as there was no space to keep old books itself. Nagaraj Navunda and others of our team decided to hold Pustaka Parishe so that old books can be distributed free of cost,” Rajkumar said.

Exhibition
An exhibition of rare books including those published 150 years ago will also be held as part of the fair.
A copy of T P Kailasam’s play ‘The Purpose’, published in 1944, G P Rajaratnam’s works published in 1940s and other rare works will be exhibited at the Pustaka Parishe. Those exhibited are not allowed to be carried by the visitors.
Those want to contribute books can contact: 99450-03479/ 94481-71069.
DH News Service