If purchasing power punctured by the slowdown is your excuse to stay away from fairs,don't give this one a miss. The 7th National Book Fair that opened one day too late (heavy rains led to the inauguration being postponed) at Moti Mahal Lawns on Saturday,gives you an opportunity to buy two bestsellers for Rs 100,a single for as less as Rs 25 and a lot more at less than what you spend on junk food any day. We have a 'bargain shelf' from which you could pick a hardcover for Rs 150 or a paperback for anything from Rs 250 to 300," says Richie Maheshwary,at the Raise India stall,which also displays prominently the book by Jaswant Singh,Jinnah: IndiaPartition,Independence. The English version of the book is for Rs 695,but you could buy it here for Rs 600 and the Hindi translation priced at Rs 595 for Rs 500, he says,adding that The Lost Symbol,the latest by Dan Brown of the Da Vinci Code-fame,which is releasing worldwide on September 15,will be available at the stall the very next day and for a hundred rupees less than Rs 595,its marked price. "We have books by various publishers and while we have sold one copy of the Jaswant Singh book already,people are also showing in Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish by IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Rashmi Bansal," says Maheshwary. All vendors are offering 10 to 20 per cent discount on the books,so the plethora of books across the fair become all the more irresistable. Stall Number 73 of Kunal Book Depot,Delhi is where you could pick a book for as less as Rs 25. At another,a banner beckons screaming World Bestsellers: 2 books for Rs 100 and you find fiction authored by the likes of Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) waiting to be picked up along with works of Jackie Collins,Sidney Sheldon,etc. The fair throws up a mixbag of educational,fictional,self-help and religious/spiritual books and there is a big variety of CDs,interactive kits,Feng Shui items and magazines with tempting subscription offers too. While the Kitaab Ghar stall holds an exhaustive stock of Hindi literature,from Premchand/Sharatchandra to modern-day writers,one misses the absence of any stall vending Urdu books. But,if you look at the huge treasure to pick up gems from,your Sunday and days till September 20 would be well spent visiting the book fair.
