Sunil lingers in spirit at book fair

KOLKATA: He may have left earth for his heavenly abode but Sunil Gangopadhyay was here, there and everywhere at the 37th International Kolkata Book Fair.
Bengal's favourite author, who passed away on October 23 last year, was on book stall facades, on glass panels highlighting special offers, posters, in exhibition halls and, most of all, on PA announcements.
There was no missing him. He was there everywhere; on book stall facades, on glass panes that highlighted the special books on offer, on posters, in exhibition halls and most of all on microphone announcements.
Sunil was Gangopadhyay clearly ruled the 37th International Kolkata Book Fair in his absence.
Almost every stall that sold Bengali fiction had stocked up on books by the late master, anticipating a huge demand - and they were not mistaken. Translated works - especially in English - also sold like hotcake, said pblishers.
People inquired for unpublished works of the late author, which were few but most publishers brought out new collections of his already published works. Most of them said that they had started planning for these collections immediately after the demise of the author because they anticipated a sharp rise in demand for his works.
The fair organizers, Publishers and Booksellers Guild, named a covered pavilion after Gangopadhyay. The location was strategic, adjacent to the first entry point to the fair from the EM Bypass. "This was purposely done to make him omnipresent. He's smiling down at everyone from there, happy that his favourite annual event is under way," said Tridib Chatterjee, the general secretary of the guild.
Krittibas, the little magazine that Gangopadhyay created in the early 50s, saw a steady train of book lovers throughout the day. As a special tribute to the poet, the magazine has brought out a collection of his unpublished poems - 'Nijer Kachei Ektu Ektu Aporichito (Me, Unknown to Myself)', which everybody seemed to want. Keeping the fair in mind, Krittibas is also about to publish a 'Sunil Smaran' (Tribute to Sunil), where 50 contemporary greats like Mrinal Sen, Shankha Ghosh, Dibyendu Palit and Srijato have contributed. "We are also going to do up the stall in the coming days with rare photographs of Gangopadhyay," said Mrinal Chakraborty, who manned the stall.
Prominent publishers have all brought out new collections by the author. "I have bought the collection of unpublished poems. I have also bought a science fiction collection by Gangopadhyay for my daughter," said Sandip Banerjee.
There were some stalls that sold mainly English books but had a separate section for Sunil Gangopadhyay's Bengali books and also English translations.
Gangopadhyay also wrote under the pseudonym Nillohit. Interestingly, there is a publisher by the same name and the stall was located adjacent to Krittibas. People trooped into the stall thinking that they would get to browse and buy Nillohit collections there, only to come out disappointed. They did not have to go very far though, since Deep Prakashan had brought out a special Neellohit collection for the book fair.
The Kolkata Literary Meet, that starts on January 30 in its second edition, will miss Gangopadhyay the most. "Last time he inaugurated the meet along with Vikram Seth and we planned to have him at this year's meet as its soul, but alas…" said Malavika R Banerjee, one of the organizers of the meet.