Tirupati book festival draws to a close, leaving good memories

Tirumala: The 15th edition of the Tirupati Book festival organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan from January 21 concluded here on Sunday leaving all the book lovers with good memories. Though the venue for the book festival has been changed this time to TTD's Vinayaka Nagar quarters playground, it did not disappoint the organisers as more than one lakh visitors thronged the exhibition during the nine days.

The festival was held after a gap of two years due to the Covid pandemic in 2021 and 2022. This time 60 stalls were opened by various publishers including National Book Trust, TTD, Visalandhra, Praja Sakthi, Pyramid Spiritual Society, Ramakrishna Vivekananda publishers and several others while the notable omission was EMESCO publications. A shopkeeper commented that the response was quite satisfactory which proved that the attraction towards books is everlasting. On the last two days of the exhibition, it witnessed huge crowds with several parents visiting the stalls with their children. The children spent their time going through the children's books besides general knowledge books and were attracted towards the stalls which displayed educational activities like science kits, experiments, projects etc., Youth were seen buying educational books of different publications.

A parent, who bought a few books of Abdul Kalam, said if books are there children will attract them one day or the other. Reading a book by keeping it in hands gives more feel and satisfaction than reading an e-book which should be explained to the present generation youth practically. Another parent felt that there is a need to keep at least a small library in every house with some important books like biographies of eminent personalities, some historical books besides Ramayana, Mahabharat and Bhagavatam and educate the children about the importance of reading such books.

However, it is important to note that the number of stalls have come down from over 80 in 2020 to 60 now. Among other reasons, the high rentals for stalls was said to be the factor responsible for some of the publications not making it this time. Further, as it was held in the last week of January especially after the Sankranti festival during which several people will have little finances left with them to buy books. It would have been organised in the first week of February, observed a book lover.