Bhubaneswar, April 15: Visitors to the Bhubaneswar Book Fair enjoyed a unique experience which allowed them to preserve their stories in the form of a book.

The initative, Thought Loom, aimed to provide bibliophiles with an opportunity to draft their own ideas and have them printed in the form of a book. Visitors at the fair, which concluded here yesterday, could document a thought or a feeling on paper using sketch pens, pencils, brushes and crayons. Once that was done, all the participants needed to do was walk over to the book creation corner where artists put their page together into a book, made in the traditional form, including scrolls, palm-leaf and pop-up.

"The aim was to showcase traditional methods of book-binding that have existed in India for a long time," said Satyabhama Majhi, an artist, who headed the project that was started by Utsha Foundation. The Bhubaneswar-based foundation promotes art.

Once the page was added to the book, the participant was guided through a photo in the book in which the page was added.

"The participant, whose page marked the end of a book got to place the book on display," she added.

The structure of the loom, made of bamboo, resembles a three-pointed star. Its third part, called the Diary of the Conscious that was displayed, had shelves where books were placed.

Several writers and poets penned their thoughts at the book fair.

Supreety Nanda, a 25-year-old IT professional, was inspired to see poet Ramakant Rath writing a poem and she followed suit soon after.

"It was nice to see a writer of his stature at a public event. I had a number of ideas, but couldn't gather the courage to put them together. After seeing him, I was motivated to pen my own story," she said.