APJ Abdul Kalam died after a heart attack on July 27 but the former President is a driving force at this year's Patna Book Fair.
With over 1.8 lakh footfall and books worth Rs 36 lakh sold in the first five days of the fair, Kalam's books are flying off the shelves. The most popular among the late President's works at the fair is his autobiography, Wings of Fire.
Patna Book Fair president H.L. Gulati said the organisers were dreading that the sales at the annual event would drop this time in the absence of any big book release. The apprehension has proved misplaced, thanks to residents who are thronging the fair for books written by the Missile Man, as Kalam was fondly called.
Gulati, the managing director of Usha Books, said: "Last year Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography, Playing It My Way, and Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend were released last year and they drove the sales. But this time with no such big-ticket releases, Kalam sahab is holding the fort for us. Riding on his books we are expecting to have total sales of Rs 5 crore. Last year, it touched Rs 7 crore."
Govind Singh Yadav, the senior sales executive of Harper Collins, said: " Wings of Fire is the most popular of all the books written by Kalam and we are the publishers who brought it out. It's the numero uno book at our stalls."
Similar sentiments were echoed by Rajesh Sharma, manager of the Prabhat Prakashan stall.
Ankita Singh, a student of Magadh Mahila College, who bought Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life, said: "I love his (Kalam's) books because they unfold a plethora of possibilities among each of us. They help not only in broadening our mental horizon but also in developing a wholesome personality."
Prabhat Prakashan's Rajesh said at least 300 copies of Wings of Fire have been sold since Friday, the fair's opening day, and people were also lapping up Hindi translations of the former President's works.
Several young visitors are also grabbing books related to school, college, entrance and competitive examinations, apart from English dictionaries. Students are making a beeline for Arihant Publications, which has put up one of the biggest stalls at the fair, for examination guidebooks. The Bihar in-charge, Sanjay Yadav, said the biggest seller among the books are the "all in one" guide book for CBSE Class X and XII examinees.
Pragati Singh, a graduate preparing for banking services, said: "I came to the fair because a wide variety of books on banking recruitment exams are available here and I can see them all under one roof."
Residents such as higher secondary student Shruti Anand are also making good use of the fair, courtesy their passions. While Shruti looked for journalism books for her career aspirations, interior designer Rashmi Gupta and her architect-husband Amit Kumar walked away with storybooks for their children after failing to find books related to their professions.
