A visit to Amdavad national book fair, candid narration with pictures

The tiniest form of book, it’s in a memory card

By Japan K Pathak, Ahmedabad, 1 May 2012

-The book fair is organized in AC dome, but don’t expect chilled air inside, the AC is not powerful enough and works like fan. Best time to visit the place is evening. However there were good number of people in the afternoon on first day. The venue is Sabarmati river front which would be avoided by many in the afternoon of May. But once you are inside the dome, it’s bearable.

-The book fair is neither too big, nor too small.

-Culture of paperback books is not popular among Gujarati publishers. Don’t know the reason, but they publish books in hard cover which brings the cost up.

-The heaviest book seen in the fair was a book of for Vedas. Its price was however comparatively lesser – just Rs 740 or so.

-The most innovative thing seen in the fair was a 2GB chip book for Rs 200. It was sold in the format of a mobile phone memory card. I spotted this innovative kind of book being sold at Islamic book publisher’s stall. The stall owner said that entire Quran, with the meaning of each verse is present in this memory card. He said this was an effort to reach out to youths, who use mobile phones.

-The book fair was very secular in nature. There are around dozen book stalls that sell Christian and Islamic literature. On Islamic stores, holy Quran is offered at price as lower as Rs 25, while in Christian stalls, they offer a book based on Bible for free.

-Then there are other religious book stalls belonging to sects like Dada Bhagwan, Chinmay Ashram, ISKCON etc. I guess the book fairs one-day will be taken over by various sects and religions. They make book fair their ground of propaganda. Also these scores of self-help masters occupy good size of floor in book fair.

-And how self help books are marketed? In one stall, there’s LCD TV screen on which Shahrukh Khan is shown promoting a book. When Shahrukh endorses a book, people come to watch and demand that book, at least to see. So the product is noticed.

-Another marketing gimmick I saw at ‘Happy Science’ stall of Japan. A Japanese couple sitting at the stall sells books published by ‘Happy Science’, a new religious sect in Japan established by Master Ryuho Okawa. Happy Science has hired a group of young girls. These girls would catch you at any location inside the book fair dome, and would ask whether you would like to fill up a form of ‘Happy Science’! I call it marketing of new sect!

-At Pravin Prakashan stall I spotted ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ type books on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Zaverchand Meghani, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Lal Bahadur Shastri. I opened Sardar Patel’s book and was happy to find how nicely the story of Sardar saheb was presented in children-friendly format.

-At a stall selling Mahatma Gandhi’s books( and also named after Mahatma Gandhi) also offers Sonia Gandhi’s books!

-I spotted a book stall of Kalim book depot. Along with other titles, they were selling historical books ‘Mirat-e-Ahmedi’ and ‘Mirat-e-Sikandari’. Now here is a scam. The owner of Kalim book depot has reproduced these authentic medieval titles, but has removed certain parts, replacing them with other narrations. This person has changed the history of medieval Gujarat to show Hindus in poor light and Islamic rulers as great secular kings. The fake and changed history of Gujarat was ready for sale to common people at this stall.

-City unit of opposition Congress party has criticized Ahemdabad Municipal Corporation(AMC) for putting Narendra Modi’s big photo on the stage of the hall that has been set up inside the AC dome of book fair.

-Gujarat Information Department’s book stall offers government publications. A book on Gujarat’s architecture costs Rs 3000(released today only by Modi at book fair), a book written by IAS Varun Maira costs Rs 2200, there are many other costly books on wild life, temples and other subjects related to Gujarat in this stall. The stall is placed at prime location. As soon as you enter the book fair, it’s there right at the beginning.

-There’s a grand food court within the AC dome. I wonder whether Amdavadi visitors would spend more at food court or at book stalls! There used to be a nice book stall ‘book tree’ on IIMA road, just opposite the AMA building. Last fortnight when I reached there, I found the store was replaced by – needless to say, a food joint!

-Couple of ideas for AMC, the organizer body of book fair. There should be shopping carts available at the book fair venue. Another suggestion is to keep ATM at book fair. I was running out of money just after buying few titles. I will have to go there again after visiting ATM.