Who says people don’t read books?

Third day of the Hyderabad Book Fair organised by the National Book Trust saw torrents of people pouring into the venue. The book fair this year, witnessed participation from over 370-odd publishing houses. As the weather turned pleasant towards the evening, crowds started thronging in huge numbers. Of the myriad of stalls which were selling books of different genres and ideologies, second hand books stalls seemed to steal the show. One of the proprietors of a second-hand book stall was overwhelmed to see the crowd flock his store. He said, “People have affiliated a sense of nostalgia with the books. That is why though it has been the advent of the e-book era, people prefer reading a book. It is completely the feel of the book in the hand which entices people.”

It was quite evident that people from all walks of life had gathered at the book fair, but it was mostly young bibliophiles and college-goers, who made the most of the book fair. There were a few stalls dedicated to a particular stream or subject like architecture, engineering and unorthodox forms of medicine like homeopathy and ayurveda, which witnessed active participation from PhD students, in the respective fields. One of them said that these books would help them assess their thesis with a better approach. Also to be noted here is the fact that the books here aren’t priced very high. They are well within the common man’s reach.

Bill, an engineer from America, who was on a visit to the city, was seen buying half a dozen sci-fi books. He said, “The books that I am buying here aren’t available anywhere in the USA. These are classics. Being an avid sci-fi lover, it is difficult to get your hands on such books. And even if they were available in the USA, they would have been priced very high under the collectibles tag.”

Apart from playing home to book-sellers and publishing houses the venue also serves as a forum for book appreciation meets and book launches. Today, there will be a book launch by Ramchandra Murthy, Editor-in-chief of HMTV and The Hans India, which would be followed by a seminar.