Books and Bangaloreans

Yesterday was the last day for the Bangalore book festival. Most of the time, Bangalore's biggest books shops-Landmark and crossword being my favorites- are good enough. However, there are two good reasons why I did not want to miss this event.
1. You get a lot of books in an exhibition like this that you don't find anywhere in Bangalore. Mostly the Tamil books, which would otherwise need me to visit Chennai.
2. They give a good discount on a lot of books.

So, I did visit the exhibition this year also. Surprisingly (though not very surprising for someone who knows Bangalore) the last day of the exhibition was not half as crowded as the forum mall on a weekday afternoon. And guess what, the most crowded stall around was the one where they were serving hot filter-coffee. They were people at books alright. But most of them were parents who accompanied their children, who are probably in school or preparing for some XYZ exam. And then few IT folks who were looking for the 'dummies' and 'mastering' series. Reading does not appear to be the most favorite for a modern-day Indian. No, I am not talking about the reading you do at work; hundreds of forwarded mails, technical documents and articles etc. etc. And everyone says that the habit must be inculcated at a young age. But nevertheless, situation is grim. I really wonder if the number of academic related reading that a kid is forced with, has something to do with this. May be yes.

When I was in school it was different. I went to a school, where basic education and good behavior was given highest importance. I had only two languages in school, Tamil and English and Tamil was my first language. I never had loads of homework, neither for the evenings nor for the weekend. When I didn't find a company for cricket, I always had a comic book at hand. My father used to get me books from library for my summer vacation. They were really big books and would take a small boy only in his 5th standard days to finish. But I never minded. They were interesting. When I have nothing else to do, I would just read. When I have nothing to read, I would take the LIFCO dictionary (my first dictionary that my father gifted for me which translated English-Tamil) and read. Just cram word after word into my head. Such was my passion for reading.

Coming back to the topic at hand, I must say that these are good days for Tamil literature. Publishers are trying a lot of good things to attract readers. Tamil books these days are neatly bound and wrapped. Gone are the days when after reading just once, you will have the book in two parts, one without the back cover and one without the front. The paper and printing quality has improved too. Every other book almost certainly draws a second look. It's good that they have realized the importance of making the books presentable apart from high-quality writing.

Only complaint I have, though, is that it is difficult to find books on your particular interests, for the stalls are set-up by publishers themselves and finding a specific book might require you to check out more than a few stalls. And after spending four or five hours, your legs will be in rebellion and the last few shops are unlikely to get as much attention as the first ones :)