The sixth Pustaka Parishe is here, bringing with it the promise of free books and a mission to ensure the reading habit stays in fashion
I first met GP Rajarathnam, one of Kannada literature’s eminent writers, when I was in pre-university. He was the chief guest at a function. After a brief but interesting speech he said all of us should buy one book each from him and opened a box. Several years later, I came to know that he followed this practice everywhere.
Rajarathnam wrote extensively for children, but had no intention of writing poems for them. It was when he saw a Kannada textbook for kids while standing in for his ill father, a teacher at a school, that he decided to start. That evening, he wrote the poem, Bannada tagadina tutturi, which is now considered a classic. Naayi Mari, Taata butti tumba rotti, Putaani Krishna, Haavu bantu haavu bantu, Kuri mari byaa and Namma maneyalondu sanna paapa are some other well-loved poems. Often, children start to learn Kannada with them.
They say even Galaganatha, the father of modern Kannada novels, carried books in a bundle on his head from door to door and sold them. With visual media having taken over, how tricky is it to market books today?
The weekly “Top Ten” list published in popular newspapers makes it tough to identify a type of bestselling book — seems like anything from gardening to creative writing sells. Yet, publishers complain that apart from sex and humour, nothing sells — not poetry, not plays.
Bucking that idea is the sixth edition of Pustaka Parishe (Book Fair), which has been organised by NGO Srushti Ventures for the past three years. Twenty lakh Kannada books will be on display at Basavanagudi National College grounds on October 27. The best part? Every visitor gets to leave with a book of his or her choice free.
“We came together in 2005 to organise awareness programmes for children and have done more than 2,000 programmes so far. In 2010, some of our members said we should donate books that we have read and do not want to dispose off as junk,” says Vedesh Gangoor, treasurer, Srushti Ventures. “We collected and displayed 7,000 books and got a great response. Six months later, we displayed 12,000 books. By the third Parishe, we had collected 28,000 books and organised it on a bigger scale at N R Colony circle. We decided to make it an annual feature. Last year at National College grounds, we displayed 10 lakh books. This year there will be 20 lakh books.”
Organising a book exhibition of this scale requires manpower and planning. “Volunteers work round the year collecting books and categorising them. Visitors to Pustaka Parishe can take any book of their choice, free. We call it ‘Reinvigorating the Book Culture’. Last year we had one and half lakh visitors,” Gangoor says.
The team also organised a special two-day Parishe for students in 2011 called Vidhyarthi Pustaka Parishe, displaying only academic books, of which students were allowed take a maximum of five free. They now plan to take the event statewide, and also organise cultural events and discussions. This year, they have already gotten over 2,000 enquiries, enthuses Gangoor.
Who are his favourite writers? “DV Gundappa,” comes the answer promptly. What about contemporary writers? “I hardly have time to read!” he exclaims. “All my time is taken up in organising programmes!”
With the response the fair is getting every year, it’s very clear that neither reading nor writing will go out of fashion any time soon.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Entertainment> Lounge / by Prathibha Nandkumar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / October 25th, 2013