Fairs have attracted people for years and their appeal is eternal. Besides fairs are also organised on the occasion of religious festivals, cultural programs, sporting events or to mark any ceremony. Now-a-days, its circumference has extended to the arena of science, technology, leather, garments industries, etc. However, Book Fairs are not very old and this could be considered as a modern ceremony of books. Although the First Kolkata Book Fair Started in 1976 with some Bengali books, but its character was international. Today Kolkata Book Fairs display books of different languages of the world and the book lovers buy those with pleasure. One could easily choose a book of his/her choice from the heap of novels, short stories, poems, etc. Publishers from the different countries of the world participate in the recent book fairs of Kolkata. Thousands of people visit the fair, buy books according to their taste and place order for more books.
Inauguration of the 39th International Kolkata Book Fair, 2015 would take place on Tuesday, that is on the 27th of January, 2015 at the Milan Mela Grounds, E.M Bypass, near Science City Kolkata. This event would range from 28th of January, 2015 to 8th of February, 2015. The Publishers and Book Sellers Guild busy doing the last minute preparations for the convenience of the book lovers. Some of the things taken into consideration are the location of spots within the city from where buses would ply to the book fair, special arrangement for finding stalls in the book fair, etc.
The theme of the 39th International Kolkata Book Fair is the country of Great Britain. The fair would run on a stretch for about twelve days. Various programs/functions would take place every day. Around 750 bookstalls would display various types of books in the fair. Contrary to the last year, this time the volume of English books would be more in numbers. Moreover, many national and international publishers would be present during the event.
This year the book fair coming up with special service for the convenience of the visitors. Suppose one needs to find a particular stall or move from one particular stall to another. This could be done easily with the help of a special application. Once the application is downloaded, movement from one stall to another could be with ease. This special application is created with the help of of CESC's IT officers.
Besides the public buses, government would run around 50 special buses from different corners of the city to the fair. Buses would be available for the visitors from Howrah, Sealdah, Dunlop, etc. Book lovers may avail a 15 percent discount in the price of books provided they carry the CESC's electric bill for the month of January. Moreover, one doesn't have to pay any entry fee.
What does a Book Fair event in the city of Kolkata means to the people living here? Well, it's hard to express the enthusiasm of the people in few sentences. It's everything beginning from a festival, a carnival, a fair and a culture. For a few days, it would be the ultimate destination for everyone irrespective of any caste, creed, religion or age barriers. Buying books, turning the pages, gossipping, eating, moving between the stalls all would happen under the same roof. Over the years it has grown into one of the city's regular cultural events and arouses almost the same kind of enthusiasm as traditional ceremonies like the Durga Puja, Muharram and Christmas.