Glimmer of hope for Kolkata publishers

Even as the venue for Kolkata Book Fair continues to be a heated debate, Kolkata-based small and medium Bengali book publishers have expressed relief as India's first book mall in Kolkata "" Varna Parichay "" plans to host a week long book fair every year from 2009.

Christened 'Boi Parbon' (or Book Festival), India's first book mall would host the week long book fair in an air-conditioned environment, instead of the dusty Maidan which has been hosting the Kolkata Book Fair for 31 years till 2006.

Varna Parichay, a 7,80,000 square feet project by real estate developer Bengal Shelter Housing Ltd, is an ambitious seven-storey re-development of the College Street market, which is coming up on the 90-year-old municipal market place in Kolkata.

Bengal Shelter Housing Development Ltd is a 50:50 joint venture of the state government and Shelter Housing.

Boi Parbon will be organised with the help of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, which was left embarrassed by the failure to hold the Kolkata Book Fair this year.

According to Tridip Chattopadhyay, president of the Guild and a key member on the advisory board of Varna Parichay, "Although the ambience will be completely different from what a Kolkata Book Fair is known for, this surely comes as a consolation to the small and medium Bengali book sellers in the city as it guarantees income for a week."

The Kolkata Book Fair, which is the second largest in the world after Frankfurt Book fair, used to register a business of at least Rs 14 crore every year with 22 lakh visitors. According to the Guild, every year at the Kolkata Book Fair, of the 800 stalls set up, about 650 stalls are set up by Kolkata-based small and medium Bengali book publishers. Each of these publishers used to do a business of close to Rs 3,80,000 during the 10 days of the fair held at the centrally located Maidan for 31 years.

According to plans, Varna Parichay will have room for 600 stalls and all the regulars of the Kolkata Book Fair as well as a large number of foreign publishers, will be accommodated at Boi Parbon, and that too in an air-conditioned environment.

The open space will also have temporary stalls to accommodate some of the small and medium publishers and little magazines who would otherwise have no presence inside the mall.

Varna Parichay will have a multi-level car parking which would accommodate at least 1,500 vehicles.

According to a publisher who requested anonymity, "College Street is an attractive location and booksellers will have to face no pollution threats since Varna Parichay will be air-conditioned. A permanent venue like this is sure to fetch us the same amount of business that Kolkata Book Fair used to for so many years."

According to B K Nag, president of the College Street Market Byaboshayee Samiti, which is the association of some 1,000-odd booksellers who had earlier opposed a bookmall in place of the pavement shops on College Street, "The confusion over a permanent venue for the last two years for Kolkata Book Fair has been very unfortunate. Some of us who would set up stalls at the book fair every year had no clue what would be the fate of the 300 to 500 copies of books that we had already printed for the fair. A permanent event like Boi Parbon make things look brighter."

Apart from books, the seven-storey mall would also have the first auction space for rare books, manuscripts and a host of other features never seen before in the country under one roof.