Bibliophiles at bookstalls in droves
Oblivious to the sweltering March heat,citizens since Sunday morning thronged the SP College ground in numbers Pune does not often witness.
3 min read
Oblivious to the sweltering March heat,citizens since Sunday morning thronged the SP College ground in numbers Pune does not often witness. No,it was not in anticipation of the Big Bs arrival; he was slated to land in the evening. Much before that,book lovers lapped up books by the dozens at the exhibition and sale of a maze of books put up as part of the 83rd Marathi Sahitya Sammelan.
Through the day,the heart of the city buzzed with activities. It actually did much before the inauguration of the sammelan on Friday and reached a crescendo on Sunday despite it being a holiday for schools,colleges and offices. From schoolchildren cycling in at their pace,college students zipping across cluttered roads,families,professionals and activists,book enthusiasts of all motions and moods made their presence felt.
If the range of books science,history,geography,art,culture,health,farm,religion,yoga,meditation,education available cheered the buyers,the discount offered,right up to 50 per cent,was an added attracted. It was difficult to figure out the choicest pick of the buyers as every stall was scanned by different groups and individuals.
Among the big hits included copies of the Quran and Right to Information. Of the 800 copies of the Quran we sold,nearly 790 were bought by non-Muslims, said Shaikh Abdul Rashid at stall no 165.
We are trying to remove the misconceptions about Islam and we have received tremendous response from book lovers. Shaikh said his team had come with around 1,000 copies each costing Rs 100. But we are selling each copy for Rs 50. The objective is to help everyone understand Islam. Some people have brought bad name to this religion,one of the greatest in the world. We are glad we found buyers in such huge numbers, he said. I bought the Quran because it is in Marathi. I have copies of the Ramayan and the Gita but never read the Quran, said R Gholap of Bibwewadi.
Like religious books,book on the Right to Information also made waves at the exhibition. In the last three days,we have sold nearly 300 copies, said Dr Vijay Dighe,who has authored a book on RTI. Dighe also conducted a survey to find how many citizens know about the RTI Act.
History books were not to be left behind. We must have sold 800 books on history, said Vaishali Salvi who was in the team from Aurangabad.
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