We Gujaratis love to read.
We get 4 newspapers every day. Okay, 5 if you consider Ahmedabad Mirror as a newspaper too. Gujarat Samachar, Divya Bhaskar, Sandesh, Times of India and Ahmedabad Mirror. Every morning we (parents and I) spend 2 hours reading them.
We also have subscriptions to weekly Gujarati magazines, like Chitralekha, Abhiyan and a few others. I don't read them regularly, but they make for the parents' night time reading.
I have noticed, at least in my family, they love subscribing to magazines over buying books. But we still love to read.
Whenever there are exhibitions in the city, whether it is a funfair with rides, exhibition on interior decoration, handicrafts, handloom, books - my father has always taken us there. Even as kids. We may not buy anything, just walk around the stalls, eat some food in the food court and come back home, but we loved visiting these exhibitions.
Last year, dad and I visited the book fair which was organized by the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (yes, it is Amdavad and not Ahmedabad). It was a good beginning. This year, it promised to be better.
And it was.
Here are the reasons you should visit the book fair:
1. Gujarat University Convention Centre is quite awesome - visited it for the first time today. Dome is nice, spacious and not crazy crowded like Sanskar Kendra where it was held last year. The food court is on a stage of plywood, though and little scary as it is shaky. :| Didnt eat anything there, but they had gwalia, bikanerwala, havmor, shambhi, etc. So it was pretty decent stuff - go for it.
2. It has more to offer than S. Chand & Sons books. :| last year, all I could see was educational books which were mostly for students up to class 10 or 12. But there was a stall of Navneet and all, so it wasn't completely missing. (or maybe I missed out on S Chand & Co. - not that I'm complaining)
3. Pretty decent collection for children's books. If you have a child in your family, you may want to give it a visit.
4. Found 4/5 stall which were selling seconds books for cheap. Like 50 rupees a book or 3 books for 100 rupees. Some were second hand, some were just old, but in decent condition. Not a bad deal. One stall also had some hard cover books for 30/50 rupees.
5. Decent collection on books on architecture and other professions.
6. I spotted 2/3 stalls on literature on Islam, Hinduism and many more on spirituality.
Anyhoo, so what I'm saying is, if you're in the city, you must visit the book fair.
I came home with that - 5 books for about 560.
Sigh, just wish that for inauguration, Narendra Modi hadn't diverted the traffic on the other routes. Man, we were stuck in traffic the other day for an hour and a half (from Shivranjani cross roads to Manekbag - including right turn at Nehrunagar) and I had to pee so bad. I had almost started dreaming of the toilet seat. So keep such inaugurations at midnight or so when no one is on the roads.
Or create more public loos. Maybe I should write an open letter to Narendra Modi asking him to construct public toilets all over Gujarat.
ANYHOOO. Visit the book fair, ok?
We get 4 newspapers every day. Okay, 5 if you consider Ahmedabad Mirror as a newspaper too. Gujarat Samachar, Divya Bhaskar, Sandesh, Times of India and Ahmedabad Mirror. Every morning we (parents and I) spend 2 hours reading them.
We also have subscriptions to weekly Gujarati magazines, like Chitralekha, Abhiyan and a few others. I don't read them regularly, but they make for the parents' night time reading.
I have noticed, at least in my family, they love subscribing to magazines over buying books. But we still love to read.
Whenever there are exhibitions in the city, whether it is a funfair with rides, exhibition on interior decoration, handicrafts, handloom, books - my father has always taken us there. Even as kids. We may not buy anything, just walk around the stalls, eat some food in the food court and come back home, but we loved visiting these exhibitions.
Last year, dad and I visited the book fair which was organized by the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (yes, it is Amdavad and not Ahmedabad). It was a good beginning. This year, it promised to be better.
And it was.
Here are the reasons you should visit the book fair:
1. Gujarat University Convention Centre is quite awesome - visited it for the first time today. Dome is nice, spacious and not crazy crowded like Sanskar Kendra where it was held last year. The food court is on a stage of plywood, though and little scary as it is shaky. :| Didnt eat anything there, but they had gwalia, bikanerwala, havmor, shambhi, etc. So it was pretty decent stuff - go for it.
2. It has more to offer than S. Chand & Sons books. :| last year, all I could see was educational books which were mostly for students up to class 10 or 12. But there was a stall of Navneet and all, so it wasn't completely missing. (or maybe I missed out on S Chand & Co. - not that I'm complaining)
3. Pretty decent collection for children's books. If you have a child in your family, you may want to give it a visit.
4. Found 4/5 stall which were selling seconds books for cheap. Like 50 rupees a book or 3 books for 100 rupees. Some were second hand, some were just old, but in decent condition. Not a bad deal. One stall also had some hard cover books for 30/50 rupees.
5. Decent collection on books on architecture and other professions.
6. I spotted 2/3 stalls on literature on Islam, Hinduism and many more on spirituality.
Anyhoo, so what I'm saying is, if you're in the city, you must visit the book fair.
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| The Loot |
Sigh, just wish that for inauguration, Narendra Modi hadn't diverted the traffic on the other routes. Man, we were stuck in traffic the other day for an hour and a half (from Shivranjani cross roads to Manekbag - including right turn at Nehrunagar) and I had to pee so bad. I had almost started dreaming of the toilet seat. So keep such inaugurations at midnight or so when no one is on the roads.
Or create more public loos. Maybe I should write an open letter to Narendra Modi asking him to construct public toilets all over Gujarat.
ANYHOOO. Visit the book fair, ok?
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