Book Fair 2023

We were exploring Dhaka city. As usual, our sudden outing had no predetermined places to go. Maybe a few hotspots that everyone goes to are the options for us to choose from. There may be a day when we will be bored enough to crave a new and unique destination. Before that, these are our best shots.

"Where do you wanna go now?"
"Ummmmm, Boi Mela?"
"Okay, let's go."

This is the month of February, so the most significant festival for book lovers is here 'Ekushey Boi Mela." Last few years, it was interrupted due to Covid, but this time it is free from interruptions, and the book fair is successfully organized.

It was Friday, a government holiday, so a crowd was a must that we had completely forgotten. When we entered, we saw a program from Sisimpur was ongoing. Lots of visitors were attending that, mainly the ones who are with kids. The sisimpur section brought back a lot of memories from my childhood.

To be honest, I am not a book lover, nor is my partner who accompanied me there. We were visiting the fair to have a look around, but it looked like we had chosen the wrong date to visit s there were vast crowds. Well, there is enough space to walk around and purchase what you want, but still, it was more than our expectations, and surprisingly most of them were like us, visitors.

Well, this is the beauty of this fair, in my opinion. Along with the book lovers, all the general visitors keep this place alive always. We also saw couples, friends, kids, families, and single souls. Everyone in their own way, roams around and enjoys the fair. We were there for almost half an hour or a little more than that. I walked around the different book stalls and tried to look around the books.

Okay, I don't read many books out of my academic syllabus, and that is a truth, but it's not like I haven't read anything at all. I have read a few popular ones, and among the writers nowadays, I really love Sadat Hossain for his thriller-type books. If you know me already, then you must know my love for anything related to thrillers and mystery. 'Choddobesh' was the book that introduced me to him, and since then, I have been following his writings on social media, filling me with his short writings. I was hoping for a glance to meet him at the fair, but he was sick and for which he wasn't visiting the fair; I got to know him through his social media. So nothing much for me to look for.

Yeap, it was just a visit to the Book Fair; I saw the thrill and happiness on many book lovers' faces as they purchased many books from their favorite writers. The same happens to me when I enter a tech market; when I see many gadgets around me, I can relate to that feeling too. So yeah, it was a decent experience to visit the book fair; two third of its duration is gone, and only a little more than a week is left.