The love for books never fades away, whether read on a Kindle or rescued from the clutches of a deluge. When 23 September’s night-long downpour left publishers and booksellers of College Street devastated, with stacks of damp pages worth a crore, readers in Kolkata turned empathy into action. On Monday, a sea of readers gathered at the ‘Bhije Boiyer Boimela’ on Bankim Chandra Street, beside College Square, to give those rain-drenched pages a fresh chapter.
(Pictures sourced by the correspondent)
Organised by the Kolkata Creative Publishers Association, the book fair witnessed a sea of bibliophiles grabbing fiction and non-fiction titles from the stalls set up on Bankim Chandra Street, even on a busy Monday. The book sellers and publishing association raised Rs 4,10,000 and distributed Rs 3,42,000 among the affected sellers as compensation for damages.
Starting at 11am, the event witnessed over a thousand buyers.
Another book fair will be held at the same venue on 7 and 9 November to sell the remaining books damaged in the rain. This two-day event will be organised by the Theosophical Society.
Bengali writer Prachet Gupta and poet Subrata Sarkar were among the guests who attended the book fair to encourage and appreciate the readers for helping the book sellers of College Street.
“It was heartbreaking to see piles of books, new and old, flooded in the night-long downpour. But readers coming forward to buy the damp, damaged books was not only an act of empathy, but also proved their passion for reading, no matter the condition,” Sarkar said.
Author and owner of Abhijaan Publishers, Maruf Hossain, said that the overall response was overwhelming. “This event was a testament to life getting a second chance. Books worth nearly Rs 3,50,000 were bought by readers today. It was very encouraging,” Maruf Hossain told My Kolkata.
Popular book shops and publishing houses like Mandas, Dhansheere, Deep Prakashani, Bongobani and Maity Book House were among those who put up stalls.