In a city where Tagore and Kafka are concurrently discussed over an earthen cup of piping hot tea, literature runs in the blood. ‘Boi mela’ – that’s how we amorously call the International Kolkata Book Fair. When we were younger, for us the book fair was a long-awaited event, and we used to make a list of books we would buy. Over the years, several times I have bought rare books from small stores that are situated in shape of small cubicles tucked between bustling milieus of bigger stalls.

I first visited the book fair on the ground opposite the Academy of Fine Arts beside Victoria Memorial when I was a teenager. It had all begun with 56 stalls of 34 publishers. It is that time of the year when the air around Milan Mela grounds on the bypass smells of books. I have been visiting the International Kolkata Book Fair since its inception, and in all these years I have visited the fair both as a reader and as an author. As memories crowd in my mind, I remember some legendary personalities whom I have met at the fair. We have read their books, we have seen their films. We have been their fans through pages and screens. They created our superheroes and they made us discover the voracious reader in ourselves. Their novels kept us awake in creativity’s addictive indulgence.

For those of who love literature, the book fair is like the taste of wine. It is said literature does not satiate a booklover enough till it is tasted red. For a bibliophile like me, the number of books I buy is never enough. I personally feel books help me to unwind from the daily corporate life. I can feel solace in the printed pages of books, and that is why I always find time to visit the book fair several times to explore stalls, buy books and meet people. Every time I visit the book fair, I somehow choose to differ from the thought that young people don’t read nowadays. I have seen young readers queuing up in front of the billing counters inside stalls, patiently with a pile of books in their hands.

Just when the wintry winds blend into the colours of spring, the book fair brings with it the freshness of millions of untold stories – each one in itself a world unknown. The venue has changed, and so have the number of participating publishers and the events within the fair. But the essence has remained the same, and the excitement of buying new books too.