Mangalore, Jan 4: A book fair is a book lover's delight. For those who thoroughly enjoy scouring over misty covers and well-thumbed pages of fiction, literature, philosophy or poetry, the week-long book fair held in Nehru Maidan in the city featured books of several genres in English, Kannada, Konkani and even in Malayalam.
After a gap of 13 years, the book mela is being organised in Mangalore by National Book Trust (NBT) India in collaboration with Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, Vishwa Konkani Kendra, Mangalore.
The book shelves in about 60 stalls held autobiographies, hardboilers, legal thrillers, historical fiction, classics, political fiction and non-fiction alongside books on current politics, vocabulary, nature and world history.
Speaking after inaugurating the book fair, Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment B Ramanath Rai said that one ought to travel for the expansion of knowledge and read to broaden the perspective of knowledge. “The habit of reading will increase our vocabulary along with knowledge. Books are important for understanding the basics of subjects. They are also helpful in learning our history, heritage and truthfulness of a topic,” he said.
Referring to the fact that a faction of the society referred to the venue of the event as central maidan, he said that it could never be rechristened and would remain to be called as Nehru Maidan.
Mangalore South MLA J R Lobo said that in the digital age of computers, children and youth failed to cultivate the habit of reading due to technology. “It is necessary to teach children to read books and magazines in school. We should encourage them to cultivate the habit of reading,” he said.
Founder of Vishwa Konkani Kendra Basti Vaman Shenoy also spoke on the occasion.
Kannada Sahitya Parishad president Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, editor of NBT Nagarajappa, regional head of NBT Amit Karki and Konkani writer K Gopaldas Prabhu were present.
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