Biggest Buzz this month
Colomob's Boi Mela - the "Festival of Words" ends
today:
by Aditha Dissanayake
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An ice cream beats the thirst while the Buddha’s Dhamma soothes
the soul |
Crying for more |
More than 400,000 ‘worshippers’ |
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Book binge |
The question on everyone's lips these days has been "Have you been
there?". The answers vary from "Yes" to "several times" to "no, not
yet". In case you haven't made it there yet, better start right now.
Today is the last day.
The International Book Fair celebrated every September is surely the
highlight of the literary month. Held for just two weeks it climaxes and
disappears before you know it.
Organized annually, according to Director Shan Rajaguru, this all-age
attraction, which this year has drawn over 400,000 book fans, can only
be described as colossal.
As in the previous year, over 400 national and international
publishers had set themselves up in a maze of temporary stalls in the
main building of the BMICH, as well as in the smaller, Sirimavo
Bandaranaike Exhibition Centre.
Every time you squeezed into a new stall you found yourself drowning
in a sea of new knowledge. The titles ranged from new fiction,
non-fiction and poetry, environmental/labour documentation, to essays of
idealistic voices, right down to reading primers and colouring books for
kids.
A vast galaxy of books, you can simply never explore everything, from
the time it opened everyday at 9.30 beginning from September 8, the
whole area has been invaded by droves of book worshippers so much so
that watching the truly diverse crowd was as fascinating as browsing
through the books on the shelves.
Faced by thousands of titles most readers seem to have planned their
book splurge carefully, visiting more than once to make their yearly
book purchases at this "festival of words!".
Chamila and Erantdathi Jayasinghe from Horana said this was their
second day at the fair. "We came yesterday and purchased five books and
ran out of money. We had to come again to buy the remaining books which
we looked at yesterday but could not buy".
Rev. Supan and Rev. Pharamaha, from Thailand, who were studying for
their MA in Buddhism at the University of Kelaniya said there were
similar book fairs in Thailand, but you never found so many English
books as you found here, at the Colombo Book Fair while Sanka
Sonduruwila, an undergraduate in Mass Communication at the University of
Colombo talked about the usefulness of reading books using hackneyed
phrases "knowledge is wealth", "Young people should be encouraged to
read more" etc. Seated quietly by herself, with a book in her hands, was
Anusha Hettiarachchi from Kiribathgoda.
"My husband and seven year old daughter are avid readers. We have
already bought books for about Rs. 5,000 and I have been waiting for the
past two hours now, for my husband and daughter to return from buying
more books. " Calling herself a housewife she says she reads only when
she has time but her husband is always glued to a book.
A marvellous change from the usual shows of household goods, fashion
or industrial products, usually seen at the BMICH this celebration of
those who read books, those who write books and those who publish books
is bound to be treasured long after the stalls are dismantled and the
vast lawns of the BMICH start breathing again.
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