Today, I visited the Namo Bharat Station at Anand Vihar to attend the book fair on the last day of its extended run. The station itself is beautifully maintained — tastefully decorated with indoor plants and impeccably clean.
However, the book fair was much smaller than I had expected. My daughter was keen on buying books on satirical Hindi poetry, but we couldn't find any.
Nearly 40% of the space was taken up by a display of Acharya Prashant's books. Upon inquiry, I learned that it is his own publishing house and he has authored a large number of books. Apart from that, most of the other Hindi books were by budding writers; the only notable book I could find was by Mamta Kalia. About 50% of the books were published by Unbound Script.
On the English side, there were books by Jane Austen and other prominent authors. In one corner, there were piles of second-hand books by foreign writers, and some charmingly illustrated nursery rhyme books for children. There was a 20% discount on Hindi books.
The most disheartening aspect was the sparse turnout — hardly any readers were to be seen, a sign of our social media-driven times.
