Thousands throng Ekushey Boi Mela: 127 new books hit stand on 13th day

The Amar Ekushey Book Fair, on Saturday, was touched with Spring mood on the occasion of Pahela Falgun. Marking the day, people of all strata of life, especially youngsters, decorated themselves with colourful traditional dresses.
The fair drew huge crowds and were seen buying books at different stalls since the morning as the fair opened at 11:00 AM for holiday.
Girls attired in yellow sarees and boys in punjabis in large number gathered on the Bangla Academy premises to welcome Falgun as well as to browse books at the fair.
Shafiqur Rahman, a student of Dhaka University, was browsing books at the stall of ‘Shabda Shilpa’, came to the fair premises with his girlfriend Keya. They both were wearing punjabi and saree, said “We thought that the book fair would be the best place to observe Pahela Falgun, so we came here”.
A total of 127 books hit the fair on the 13th day of the event while collections of poems was on the top of the list.
New arrivals of the day included 27 collections of poems, 19 of stories, 23 novels and five collections of researches.
Of those, ‘Thatta’ of Said Ahmed, ‘Jobaful Josnay Doob’ of Rahman Siddique, ‘Kather Manush Pinakio’ by Father Marino Rigan, ‘Dirgassash’ by Faruk Hussain, ‘Robo Bhut’ by Hitlar A Halim, ‘Hijal Dash Kobi’ by Drubo Esh, ‘Dul Duluni, Mon Bhuluni’ by Hasan Hafiz and ‘Jemon Kore Manush Elo’ by Khandakar Mahmudul Hasan, were mentionable.
Covers of 12 titles were unveiled in the fair on the day. Among those, Sardar Fajlul Karim unveiled the cover of ‘Amar Sneher Kobitagulu of Sarkar Amin, Dr Zafar Iqbal uncovered ‘Ek Kishorer Atmakotha’ of Sadman Mahtab Kibria and ‘Subarna Tumi Jano Na’ of Iqbal Qaderi, Election Commissioner Brig. General (rtd) M Shakhawat Hussain uncovered ‘Gouna Gatha’ of Ishtiak Hasan in the evening.
The day’s hot item was volumes of poems and novels, especially those having messages of love, said the salesmen of different publishing houses. Greeting cards inscribed with love poems and illustrations were also in high demand, they said.
The Bangla Academy, as part of its regular programmes, held a discussion on `The Language Movement’.

Courtesy of The New Nation