Book stalls wear deserted look in Kokrajhar district

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: The book stalls at the 62nd session of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS), which is currently taking place at Rani Khalaishree Fwthar, Patgaon in the Kokrajhar district, had a depressing appearance because most of the attendees preferred to browse the clothing, accessory, and food vendors. This demonstrates unequivocally how gravely society is losing the habit of reading books. The reception committee has set up 500 stalls for book fair, departmental exhibition, dresses, food and ornamental display and sale but shockingly there are only nine stalls occupied by book libraries that is only 2 per cent of total stalls while remaining are mostly occupied by dress, food and ornament sellers. Most ironically, the book stalls were seen with thin visitors even in the third day on Saturday.

A poet Alongbar Mashahary who published collection of poem book, “Mugani Akhol” told this correspondent that he had experienced a poor sale of bboks. He said he had spent over Rs 50,000 in publishing his poem book but it is beyond imagination to recover even 30 per cent of his amount spent in printing. He added that the decline in reading habits will only demoralize authors and publishers.

The decline in reading culture in society has alarmed many authors and publishers, who are reluctant to publish new works. This indicates that readers and purchasers are essential for the flourishing of literature, and the BSS conference is the finest venue for book sales.

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