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Book fair off to a disappointing start
Stalls not ready…chief guest arrived two-and-half-hours late… irked stall owners and customers left the venue cursing…these were the scenes that marked the opening day of 28th Hyderabad Book Fair at NTR Stadium. The first book fair in the independent State, was off finally to an inauspicious start. Initially,
Stalls not ready…chief guest arrived two-and-half-hours late… irked stall owners and customers left the venue cursing…these were the scenes that marked the opening day of 28th Hyderabad Book Fair at NTR Stadium. The first book fair in the independent State, was off finally to an inauspicious start. Initially, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was expected to launch the event at 5 pm. But it was informed that he would be replaced by Education Minister G Jagadishwar Reddy. Finally, after another bout of delay, Finance Minister Etela Rajender launched the event at 7.30 pm.
Addressing the scant crowd, Rajender said, “One cannot get information about every every place in the world. Here is where books help. They familiarise you to various dimensions of the society.” The fair promised to offer a lavish spread of 330 stalls. But the visitors were shocked that not even have the stalls have been erected. This irked the bookworms who were miffed with the half-baked efforts.
“Things aren’t even in place. What was the urgency to start today? They could have opened it tomorrow. In fact, they could have started early and finished it on time. I am a regular to the book fair for a decade. There were glitches earlier too. This time there are just way too many,” fumed Subramanyam, a retired headmaster.
Priyasha, an architecture student, agreed, “It would have been better if they started this event a day later. It is pointless. I came forward looking for some interesting books, but it was disappointing.” The previous edition of the fair was a smooth affair with National Book Trust lending their support. This time however, they were reduced to mere participants for reasons unknown.
By:Tushar Kalawatia
