Me and Kolkata Book Fair

My romance with Kolkata Book Fair started  from 1995, i had just moved  in Kolkata in October 1994 for my 6 years stint  on behalf of BHEL. Those days our office used to be in Chatterjee International building which is bang opposite to the venue of book fair for more than 30 years. So for me going to the book fair meant just crossing the sreet .On an average i read more than 20 books a year so i can never miss the opportunity of such a book fair which is considered to be largest by the crowd count.

Those days Rana Bose,  my PA Late S N Bose and sometimes DP and Mukho would accompany me. Of course Rana and Bose accompanied me to all the fairs till 2000 when i left for BHEL,Bhopal for my new assignment.

I am witness to the fire which engulfed Book Fair in 1997 and destroyed most of the stalls. From my chamber i could see the fire starting and then spreading to the most of the stalls. It was devastating sight watching book sellers trying to save their stalls by throwing the books in ponds. Something like 100,000 books got gutted.

 In 2004 it was decided to shift book fair venue  to Salt Lake Stadium.It was cramped for space and not a right place for a book fair. With the gutting down in 1997 the original mela spirit died , lot of restriction was put from the point of view of fire and finally shifting out of maidan did the rest of damage. Still book lovers flocked and i too kept on visiting every year till 2000 when it was still in maidan. The smell of the new books, the sight of young boys quickly finishing a story in the stall itself, seminars on books, artists doing on the spot portrait paintings, small rock groups, the aroma of coffee and food still linger in my mind.

I always had the ambition that i should release a book here in book fair. Well God listened to my wish. I guess my transfer to Bhopal was to enable me to fulfill my that wish. BHEL,Bhopal had brought out a book on Transformer in 1987 and it was never been revised. I advised my transformer group to update that book. It was duly done with a chapter written by me and P T Deo. Tata Mac Grew Hill was the publisher. In January 2003 i came to the Kolkata Book fair from Bhopal to release that book "Transformers". It was televised and got News paper coverage.  

At Bhopal my good friend G G Subhedar encouraged me to write a management book capturing my experiences. I wrote one in anecdotal fashion in English which was titled "Take it or leave it " and then published in Hindi, the translations was done by our BHEL office staff Pramod and Binodanand Jha. It was published by Manjul Publishers of Bhopal who were the publishers of Dominique Lappiers book " It was 5 past midnight in Bhopal.

The title of my first Hindi Management Book is "Management ke Saral Nuskhe."

 I retired in 2003. In the Kolkata Book Fair of 2007 i was going round the fair and was pleasantly surprised to find my book is being sold in the fair, i was thrilled like a child and took snap of the stall and the rack. Later on i was told that the 4th edition of the book has come out, yes i got some royalty for my book.

Subsequently after my retirement i wrote another book which was again published by Manjul in 2009. It is known as "Management ke sabak."

Now i keep writing blogs and micro blogs, stories .....have a plan to bring out the compilation in English if God wishes....

I must admit that the Kolkata Book Fair spurred me in writing articles, stories then everything else started falling in places. Yes one has to start then only things can take shape.

Below is the link of Kolkata Book Fair 2016...