Participation of youngsters boosts sale of Gandhi books

Mumbai: The exhibition-cum-sale of books on and by Mahatma Gandhi, organised recently by the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal and Gandhi Book Centre, has received good response with books worth Rs 2.12 lakh having been sold between January 30 and February 4. Financial assistance has been provided for the initiative by Babulnath Mandir Charities and Mahalaxmi Mandir Charities. "The exhibition-cum-sale received overwhelming response from the readers as the books worth about Rs 2.12 lakh were sold during the six days," Mandal's managing trustee Tulsidas Somaiya said today.

Set up in 1952, when Vinoba's 'bhoodan andolan' was at its peak, the trust has been engaged in programmes to spread the message of the Mahatma by holding seminars, workshops, meetings and youth camps and the exhibition was organised to commemorate 69th death anniversary (January 30) of Gandhi. According to Somaiya, "Books in four languages viz. English, Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati were sold at the exhibition. In the present world of modern technologies like iPhone, tabs and e-books, it is difficult to believe that many people are still interested in buying Gandhi books. The sale proves that Gandhiji's teachings are relevant than ever." 'Gandhi Autobiography', 'Talks on the Gita' and 'Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi' were among the top-selling books. Besides Gandhi's books on economics, politics, education, law, religion, health etc. have also been popular.

Somaiya said most of the visitors were youngsters. "Many visitors requested that such exhibitions be organised at various places throughout the year," he said. Apart from selling books, the Mandal also conducts Gandhi Peace examination in jails on a regular basis in a bid to instill the sense of remorse among inmates through the moral values propagated by Gandhi. "More than 1.5 lakh copies of the best-seller- 'An Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi' have been sold by Navjivan Trust in the last one year in sixteen regional languages. "We are happy to note that our Gandhi websites www.mkgandhi.org got 24,664 visits from all over the world on the occasion of Gandhi's death anniversary on January 30 to collect the information about him as well as about peace, non-violence and related subjects," Somaiya added.