While there is a perception that readers for Marathi books are declining day by day, here is an exception. May Marathi Mahotsav, a Marathi book exhibition organised by Akshardhara, which has been going on in the city for the last 20 days, has drawn a crowd of over 50,000 and a sale of two lakh Marathi books taking the business to around Rs 25 lakh.

The exhibition, conducted every year, goes on for a month. This year it started on October 14 and will continue till November 15. "The response this year is huge and we are witnessing an average of 2,000 visitors each day," said Ramesh Rathivdekar, director of Akshardhara.

"f the 2,000 visitors, around 1,800 bought at least four books each. We are doing a business of Rs 40 lakh each year in Pune for the last 15 years. However, we are expecting to cross the figures this year," he said.

"With the advent of technology and the actions of audio visual media, it is said that the readers are shifting from print to other media. It is also said that nowadays people don't read. However, the persistent crowd gathering for exhibition has proved that hunger for reading is still there," he added.

According to Rathivdekar, though response to "How To…" kind of books is bigger, old Marathi novels especially historical novels like Yayati, Shreeman Yogi and Swami are in great demand. "Even youngsters demand for these novels. Books of renowned authors like late Acharya Atre and C V Joshi are also read widely. Set of two volumes of Raja Shiv Chhatrapati written by Babasaheb Purandare is also in demand and we sold about 275 sets in the last three weeks," he said.

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