People at the Patna Book Fair on Tuesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Dec. 21: After 12 days of hustle and bustle, the Patna Book Fair came to a close today.

Publishers did a brisk business this year, with sale of books worth over Rs 5 crores. About eight lakh people visited the 850 stalls at the fair.

The majority of the people who visited the fair over the past 12 days expressed their satisfaction over the preparations. A large number of young people visited the stalls in their pursuit to buy books.

This time the fair was a witness to a number of activities. There was a bioscope that showed several movies which, even the young people were not so aware of. Among such movies were Didi. A number of people enjoyed the movie. The theme of of the film was education among female children. Several other movies including Katha Madhopur Ki, Damul were also showed.

Books by writers like Chetan Bhagat were in high demand. Like previous years, books by Munshi Premchand and Phanishwar Nath Renu were in demand. But the demand for books by Chetan Bhagat overshadowed the rest.

Unki zubani Meri Kahani, Unka Kavya Meri Vaani, a literary programme which had personalities like Alok Dhanwa reciting Urdu poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Kamla Prasad reciting poems of Dinkar.

Poet Alok Dhanwa’s recitation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz got a lot of appreciation from the people. A great admirer of Faiz, Dhanwa said: “If I knew Urdu, I would have had recited poems of Ghalib and Kaifi Azmi in a better way.” A number of people gathered to see the programme.

Bookworm was another interesting programme, which drew a number of people. This event was for those who do not write but read a lot. Among the people who attended the programme was additional director-general of police Abhyanand, who besides sharing his thoughts answered various questions of people.

On the other hand, Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) showcased a street play titled L.P.G. The objective of the play was to communicate to the people how American are affecting the minds of the people of the Indians. IPTA sent the message that in order to earn more profits, the people with power are not thinking about the masses.

The play said it is because of these policies that unemployment is growing and people have suddenly started courting India. Dipak Kumar directed the play.

Apart from all this, like every year, the Patna Book Fair became a place for many to hang out. Coming in pairs and in groups, youngsters as well as elders had a good time here.

Like many visitors, even the publishers expressed their happiness with the way things unfolded in the past 12 days. Many of them said their business was much better than what they had expected.