Sunday, February 2, 2014

Boi Mela 2014!

A pleasure which words can't describe. It is almost like the peace of mind a pious person gets when he reaches his temple. And, oh, so long a gap, that I hardly remember when was the last time I visited the book fair. Those days when I used to be a student, there was hardly any money, and I'd select and shortlist and then again be forced to cut down on the list, given my budget. One of the first books I got from the book fair was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I simply felt I have got to get the original version of this book, I can't bear to miss one single word of the story. I remember the book had cost me 80 bucks then, And I perhaps used to get a pocket money of 20 paise per day (6 Rs a month) which was later revised to 10 Rs a month. You can well imagine, how much pain I had to take to accumulate the required money.

The next phase belonged to the various শরদিন্দু অমনিবাস I'd buy. One a year, or maximum two. I was giving tuition then, so I had a little more money at my disposal.  And as it is not in my habit to ruin a book in any way, I used to write with a pencil, in the front page, my name followed by the book fair year. Those were good days.

Did I tell you about the cultural program I attended on 26th January? It was the reunion of dad's college, There was a tabla rendition by Bikram Ghosh and his band, Rhythm Scape, and it was followed by a musical evening with none other than Usha Uthup. How I enjoyed man, it was like...I was living and breathing after a long long time. And guess what, I even shook hands with the lady, and said a short and smiling "Ma'am, pleasure meeting you" whence the lady winced, it seems my diamond ring hurt her :O

This book fair was no different, may be even more blissful a feeling. Got 9 books in all, and I know it might sound childish, but I really want to write down about them.

1. From Rupa - A Ruskin Bond edited collection of Horror Stories, A Hundred Lamps, a collection of short stories written on the medical profession and a book on Suchitra Sen (more for my mom than for me - though having some good photographs and a biography of such a dynamic lady didn't seem a bad idea at all, though I am a little bit irked by the craze that has followed her death, I have always been her fan, death doesn't make her special all of a sudden).

2. From Projapati - Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe (how I wanted this ever since my childhood, being this huge huge fan of the author) and Father Brown stories (have always heard about him - couldn't resist buying, now that I am done with most of the other famous detectives)

3. From Mitra O Ghosh - Got a collection of কিরীটী রায় - this one for my mom, and well, of course I'd read too

4. From Karuna - Got a ত্রৈলোক্য নাথ মুখোপাধ্যায় - ডমরু চরিত - remember reading his work from South Point High School Library, those days all I'd read was ত্রৈলোক্য নাথ মুখোপাধ্যায় and বিভূতিভূষণ বন্দোপাধ্যায়।

5. From Dey's - guess what? Ya man, ever since I lost my সুকুমার সমগ্র I wanted to get another copy, and finally did. And how I was laughing like a child reading excerpts of হ য ব র ল and লক্ষ্মনের শক্তিশেল - in fact it was like, I'd first recite a para or a part and then open the book and show dad just how correctly I remember.

6. How we went around looking for Signet Press. Like my সুকুমার সমগ্র I had lost my চাঁদের পাহাড় as well. And it is such a craze in this book fair, almost all publishers have published copies. But me and dad had decided that if we get it, we'd get the original one. And finally, we could locate the stall. Ah, here lies the book, the same cover that I had as a child. Only, it was paperback then, now they have republished with a hard bound cover.

This much for one day, and I definitely plan to go back. The arrangement is nice, though the return journey was not as smooth as the onward journey, given the roads have been made one way. But, otherwise, there were maps available, I duly collected my privilege card (which entitled me for 5% extra discount if I buy more than Rs 500 worth of books from a particular stall), and gladly noticed that there is plentiful arrangement of free packaged drinking water. Really a good gesture. Moreover, reading the books was so pleasant. Read some pages of আরন্যক after a long time - couldn't recollect much. But read almost the whole of ক্ষীরের পুতুল and could remember it entirely. And I also noticed, the quality of printing has gone up a lot after desktop publishing came into vogue. I once remember buying this collection of O Henry short stories - my, I had to sit with a pen to correct the spellings. It is much better now. Aparna Sen gave a speech on the occasion of hundred years of Indian cinema, dad was very eager to see her once. I lectured dad a bit on mid life crisis, whence he retorted and said, all Sens' are dying, so he dare not miss this chance - and I took him to the auditorium all the same. Going anywhere with dad is so much fun, but I don't want to stress him out, as it is he is 67, and was visibly in pain after continuously walking for 5-6 hours. So we took a taxi home, and spent all the money we had saved in discount. That is precisely the fun of book fair - I sign off (or sigh off) saying the same old thing - I so much want to live in this city - wish I had some job. God, please listen to me for once...as they say, have mercy :)

No comments: