GUWAHATI, Nov 14 � The evenings with its hint of winter have been turning into moments for establishing an affinity with books as citizens are turning up in large numbers at the ongoing Guwahati Book Fair cum Literary Festival at the engineering institute ground, Chandmari.
With the book lovers preferring to visit the fair ground later in the afternoon, business for the participating publishing houses has been picking up mostly in the evenings and sales have been brisk particularly on Saturdays and Sundays.
According to Sushil Goswami, assistant secretary of Publication Board, Assam more than 35,000 people turned up at the fair last Sunday.
�We are quite encouraged by the response that we are getting from the public. A congenial atmosphere in the State is one of the major factors behind creating the ambience for intellectual pursuits,� said Goswami informing that on the average 20,000 people have been visiting the fair everyday.
Goswami further said that the sale of books by the Publication Board, Assam was more than Rs four lakh till Tuesday.
�We are expecting our sales to double going by the interest people are evincing in the books published by the Board,� said Goswami.
However, for some publishing houses the business is far from satisfactory. Compared to last year, their sales have been less and many attribute the poor business to inflation and boom in the online selling of books.
Vijay Sarma of Eastern Book House said that till Wednesday the sale of books by the house was to the tune of Rs one lakh and above, far below the expected level.
�On last Saturday and Sunday we did some good business. We are hoping our sale will improve by the time the fair concludes,� said Sarma pointing out that nowadays people prefer to buy their favourite books online.
The sale of Bani Prakash Pvt Ltd had not even crossed Rs one lakh. Guneswar Deka observed that inflation and all the festivals that have just ended have affected the purchasing power of the book lovers. �What with cost of living going up and the unprecedented price rise, buying books has become a luxury for many earnest readers who cannot afford to buy books now,� he said. For Anwesha too, business has been bleak so far.
A staff of the publishing house Anwesha said that the stalls in the front row are doing good business as usual than the stalls that are in the back. �This is a kind of psychological reflection as people prefer to visit the stalls that are in the front,� said Anwesha.
Presence of the student community has been very perceptible with many dressed in their school or college uniforms browsing over books. Neha, a student of JB Law College here expressed the regret that though she wanted to buy many books she did not have enough money to purchase all the books of her choice.
�I have bought a few novels by Assamese authors. I had saved my pocket money for the book fair,� said Neha asserting that books still appealed to the young generation as against the popular perception that the young generation are losing interest in books.
For people of all age groups, the book fair has provided an opportunity to spend some moments in intellectual contemplation. Apart from books, the literary sessions and book release functions have become occasions for the readers to listen to prominent figures from the literary and cultural world.
The fair has been extended till November 17.