We may purchase a thousand books online but the sight and smell of printed version, makes reading much more enjoyable. No wonder, when I visited the ongoing World Book Fair 2018 today i.e. 9th Jan, I found the place quite crowded despite it being a week day.

The fair began on 6th January and will continue till 14th. There are three main halls No. 11, 12 and 12A. And then there is “Hangar over Lake”, a tented enclosure comprising of Hall No. 7A to H, 8, 9 and 10. Hall No. 12 and 12A is primarily dedicated to Hindi books, while Hall No. 11 has English ones.

The Hangar was more of a mixed bag, ranging from regional language books to fiction, non fiction, children, young adult ones to educational and competitive ones.

Here I must point out that stalls in Halls are numbered and detailed lists are available outside each hall. However, tracing out which hall or stall would have your kind of books, was a humongous task. I would have rather preferred the halls or stalls be listed as per genres. Perhaps NBT in an overzealous approach to allot and involve more publishers, both small and big ones, has slightly overlooked people’s convenience.

There were too many publishers displaying their stuff proudly but most of them neither offered any discount nor had variety.

However the Author’s Corner did uplift my mood. Attended a few launches and discussions, and it was heartwarming to listen to noted authors live.

I was there to attend RuBaRu an event, launching two of my collective anthologies in Hall No. 8 and met many friends I have hitherto known on social media. In a way, this Fair provided a perfect opportunity to converse with your favorite authors and bask in their esteemed presence.

A few stalls caught my attention due to their unique display and name. Palimpest, Roli Books, Speaking Tiger, Viva Education, Sahitya Akademi, Saraswati House and Book Chor. You can see the photos below and admire the unique concept of displaying books in a creative way.

Book Chor, in particular impressed with their bambooed fencing and cool tagline of “Robinhood of Textville”. They sold used books at discounted prices and I did buy one from them.

Last but not the least, the easiest and cheapest way to visit Book Fair is by Metro. You can purchase the entry ticket of Rs. 30/- from the station itself and just walk a km to Hall No. 12 and then further on to other Halls. Parking was though choc a bloc near the Metro gate No. 8. So I don’t know how easy it will be to go there by your own vehicle. In any case, no vehicles are allowed inside Pragati Maidan.

All in all, World Book Fair is a good way to spend a sunny day in the august company of written words. Do visit before the fair winds up on 14th. Enjoy!