47 books, aching limbs, a gaping hole in the wallet and a full and singing heart. These are the repurcussions.
Trudging around the bookfair with so may books hanging on my arms. I feel biceps & triceps coming up on my arms already.
Sights, sounds and not to mention the smells, well there are many.
Overcrowded beyond belief, its fair to assume that even less than 50% of the people who attend actually read. Apart from the people who actually read, people who attend the book fair belong to several general catogories. I shall list them down, for your general understanding;
1. The entourage - Parents, uncles, aunties, cousins, great uncles & great aunties who accompany a single kid who is there to buy a single book. And that too an O/L exam papers book.
2. The party-goers - Where there's something happening, they are there! Doesn't matter whether its a book fair, geek meet or a funeral, if its famous, they want to be there. Usually seen sitting under a tree, slurping on a cup of maggie noodles or eating elephant house ice cream while chatting to one another quite loudly.
3. Romeos - These are genuine romantics, searching for their soulmates amongst the sweaty frantic crowds who hussle about in the heat. Generally, they do not have any interest in books. Unless a girl is holding it.
4. Don Juans - Well, rather aggressive & creepy Don Juans and not even an ounce as good looking. They creep up to you, whispering foul somethings in your ear and try to get a cop up. They do not have ANY interest in books. Even if a girl is holding one. Unless she is holding it by her boobs.
5. Pseudo-intellectuals - Thinks being seen at the book fair makes them seem intelligent. Usually seen wearing artsy cotton garb, reaching for the biggest and the heaviest looking books on the shelves. Holding it for a few seconds, release on to the shelf. Hold & release. Hold & release. Repeat until noticed.
...........and the list goes on.
While it is great to see the crowd's enthusiasm in the bookfair, its heartbreaking that those who are actually there for the books have no way of browsing at leisure and making purchases because of the throngs. There should be some kind of a control, maybe a higher priced entrance ticket (Rs 100-200 maybe?) that can be redeemed at any stall when purchasing books from there? I think that should keep the unwanted crowd (ones whose purpose in coming there are not books) at bay.
Sounds - Women yapping away blocking the isles, gossiping about this one and that, teenagers squealing over the 50 shades of crap or quarelling over the last copy of the New Moon, lovers' quarrels, mothers/aunts/uncles on phones to their children/nieces/nephews informing that they are at the bookfair and inquiring whether there was anything they needed, sound of falling books, flipping pages, ah this is hardly a quiet place.
Smells - Sweat, strong perfumes, popcorn, mixture of perfume & sweat, hotdogs, maggi noodles overpowering the smell of new books and the refreshing scent of new pages being flipped which wafts by to the delight of your nose every once in a while.
Anyhow, it was shocking to see how the prices of books have gone up over the last year. And the discounts were a joke. Expographics played the foulest methinks, with an alleged 10% "discount". There, I heaped my arms up with books and took it to the counter.No discount was given to the said books and when asked, I was told that the prices marked were after the discount has been given. I was furious as the prices, or rather the "discounted prices" were much higher than the prices offered elsewhere, but there was nothing to be done as the books have already been billed. Well, that is the LAST time that Expographics will see me.
Anyways, bookfair should introduce shopping carts. Otherwise, a few more years of trudging around with books hanging off every limb, I'm sure we will turn into brown versions of the Incedible Hulk pretty darn soon.
I'm sure in a couple more years, reading will be a rich man's hobby and a poor man's luxury. Pity really. Coz rich men are usually not really interested in or don't really have much time for reading.
The post is long due, but better late than never they say. Its the weekend and I'm determined to milk it to the max. Saturday morning. I'm buried in books, my rooms a mess and me, a happy, happy girl. Life is good :)
Trudging around the bookfair with so may books hanging on my arms. I feel biceps & triceps coming up on my arms already.
Sights, sounds and not to mention the smells, well there are many.
Overcrowded beyond belief, its fair to assume that even less than 50% of the people who attend actually read. Apart from the people who actually read, people who attend the book fair belong to several general catogories. I shall list them down, for your general understanding;
1. The entourage - Parents, uncles, aunties, cousins, great uncles & great aunties who accompany a single kid who is there to buy a single book. And that too an O/L exam papers book.
2. The party-goers - Where there's something happening, they are there! Doesn't matter whether its a book fair, geek meet or a funeral, if its famous, they want to be there. Usually seen sitting under a tree, slurping on a cup of maggie noodles or eating elephant house ice cream while chatting to one another quite loudly.
3. Romeos - These are genuine romantics, searching for their soulmates amongst the sweaty frantic crowds who hussle about in the heat. Generally, they do not have any interest in books. Unless a girl is holding it.
4. Don Juans - Well, rather aggressive & creepy Don Juans and not even an ounce as good looking. They creep up to you, whispering foul somethings in your ear and try to get a cop up. They do not have ANY interest in books. Even if a girl is holding one. Unless she is holding it by her boobs.
5. Pseudo-intellectuals - Thinks being seen at the book fair makes them seem intelligent. Usually seen wearing artsy cotton garb, reaching for the biggest and the heaviest looking books on the shelves. Holding it for a few seconds, release on to the shelf. Hold & release. Hold & release. Repeat until noticed.
...........and the list goes on.
While it is great to see the crowd's enthusiasm in the bookfair, its heartbreaking that those who are actually there for the books have no way of browsing at leisure and making purchases because of the throngs. There should be some kind of a control, maybe a higher priced entrance ticket (Rs 100-200 maybe?) that can be redeemed at any stall when purchasing books from there? I think that should keep the unwanted crowd (ones whose purpose in coming there are not books) at bay.
Sounds - Women yapping away blocking the isles, gossiping about this one and that, teenagers squealing over the 50 shades of crap or quarelling over the last copy of the New Moon, lovers' quarrels, mothers/aunts/uncles on phones to their children/nieces/nephews informing that they are at the bookfair and inquiring whether there was anything they needed, sound of falling books, flipping pages, ah this is hardly a quiet place.
Smells - Sweat, strong perfumes, popcorn, mixture of perfume & sweat, hotdogs, maggi noodles overpowering the smell of new books and the refreshing scent of new pages being flipped which wafts by to the delight of your nose every once in a while.
Anyhow, it was shocking to see how the prices of books have gone up over the last year. And the discounts were a joke. Expographics played the foulest methinks, with an alleged 10% "discount". There, I heaped my arms up with books and took it to the counter.No discount was given to the said books and when asked, I was told that the prices marked were after the discount has been given. I was furious as the prices, or rather the "discounted prices" were much higher than the prices offered elsewhere, but there was nothing to be done as the books have already been billed. Well, that is the LAST time that Expographics will see me.
Anyways, bookfair should introduce shopping carts. Otherwise, a few more years of trudging around with books hanging off every limb, I'm sure we will turn into brown versions of the Incedible Hulk pretty darn soon.
I'm sure in a couple more years, reading will be a rich man's hobby and a poor man's luxury. Pity really. Coz rich men are usually not really interested in or don't really have much time for reading.
The post is long due, but better late than never they say. Its the weekend and I'm determined to milk it to the max. Saturday morning. I'm buried in books, my rooms a mess and me, a happy, happy girl. Life is good :)
3 comments:
This is totaly true. It was really overcrowded and was really hard to choose books in those tiny stalls with loads of people. And yes... prices of books were really high. Maybe they have added the discount price for the normal price and then give us the discount for the sake of discount :D
So true. I really do thing carts would be an amazing idea and unfortunately an increase in the entrance ticket price also. Such a nightmare, although I will say, I did find a couple of treasures from the used book stores. I make a B line straight to those stalls..and hung out there. You are also very right about the prices, they really are not cheap. At all.
What I've discovered over the years is that discounts are really jokes. And u're right Blissfully Ignorant, the second hand books are the only ones that held good deals, and although its super hard to get your head around the chaotic mess of books in there, the time you spend there is truly worth it. Maybe Wandering around life would agree with me when I say that a higher entrance fee is necessary. Hopefully somebody would consider the ticket price & shopping carts in the future for the benefit of us poor folk.
Post a Comment