From Persia to Odisha Did you ever expect to stumble upon an English translation of a 200-year-old Persian book? Or a long-forgotten tribal book of short stories from the conflict-ridden state of Manipur? At the ongoing World Book Fair,multi-lingual books have many feeding their hunger for literature that has not found mainstream popularity. While languages such as Hindi,Bengali and Malayalam usually generate ample interest,more niche languages such as Oriya,Manipuri and Kashmiri,are fuelling readers interest this time. Sheikh Javeed Ahmad,who owns the 80-year-old City Book Centre in Srinagar,is excited. Visitors have shown curiosity about our culture and history and it is very satisfying to see such a response since we have come here for the first time, he said. Ahmad has also translated many popular Persian titles to English some even 150-200 years old. A few stalls away is Writers Forum Imphal,a book house that was started in the 80s,at a time when conditions were bad for writers in Manipur. Its owner BS Rajkumar is busy correcting visitors as some of them mistake Manipuri script for Bengali. I am surprised,even overwhelmed,with the way people have approached us since we had expected to be lost in the crowd of so many other languages, he said. Discount Rain The event has turned all the more interesting owing to the countless promotional discounts offered by leading publishing houses. At Hall No. 6,many stalls are offering huge discounts to students. For instance,Penguin Books is offering 10 percent discount on all its books,with an additional 5 percent for students. At the Reado.com stall,which has audio books without any subscription charges,there is a flat 20 percent off. I have bought a lot of books at the fair thinking that if I had bought the same number of books from book stores,I would have shelled out so much more, said Niyati,a law student,from behind the pile of books she was carrying around. Man,woman and child At the Childrens Pavilion,one wonders what purpose a Tarla Dalal cookery book stall would serve,or for that matter,even a collection of Pati Patni ke Jokes. Nevertheless,stretched over an overwhelming 45,000 sq mts,the fair has much to offer besides adult books in childrens booths. A rather interesting one is put up by Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy at Hall No. 6,which is attracting much attention due to its gender and civic sensitisation campaign. We are attracting about 100-150 people a day, claims Rajendaran,a Tamil language instructor at the academy,who tends to the stall. Rajendaran hands over the questionnaire form for the visitors,designed to sensitise them about gender and civic issues. Questions range from Has god made women lesser than men?,to Have I taken equal share in the parental property? with yes,no and maybe as options. People often have wrong notions about gender and citizenship rights. I think it is a good sign that they stop by to fill these forms, he added. with inputs from Swati Mehta
