Over 1,000 Patnaites buy books at NBT festival

PATNA: Book lovers of all age groups could be seen flipping through the pages of their favourite books at the National Book Festival organized at Patna planetarium to commemorate the 60 years of National Book Trust (NBT).
Organizing committee sources said the seven-day book fair will conclude on March 28. IT is also being organized in Cuttack, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Jalandhar, Surat and Mumbai.
“The books are available in English, Urdu, Hindi, Magahi, Bhojpuri and Maithili languages and almost everyone visiting the fair is spending quality time at different stalls,” said a source.
An NBT official said on Sunday around 1,000 buyers have so far visited the book fair, which was inaugurated on Wednesday. “There is huge demand for children books. We have sold books worth 1 lakh in the past four days. A painting workshop was also organized on the theme of Champaran Satyagrah for children from the National Institute of Open School,” said Kamal Ahmad, in-charge of NBT (Bihar chapter).
Octogenarian book lover B K Srivastava, who is a retired government employee, was engrossed in checking out books at the fair on Sunday morning. “My day starts with reading newspapers and books. I love reading books since my childhood days. I have a small library also at my residence,” he said.
“My Class VI exams were over in the second week of March. I had come to visit the planetarium when I came to know about the book fair on the same premises. I bought a book, Sona’s Adventures, on a camel. I also love to paint and dance in my free time,” said Aanchal, who had come with her father and cousins.
Shreya Jaiswal, a Class V student of St Joseph’s Convent High School, said she loves reading biographies. “I am enjoying my day at the book fair with my mother, grandmother and brother as my exams got over in the third week of March. I have time to spend with books,” said Shreya, who was busy reading a book on Mahatma Gandhi.