One upon a time, Ekushe Boi Mela or the Book Fair was one of the most waited event of the year for me and my cousin. We would read the newspapers where new and popular books were advertised. We used to list down the names, writer and publishers that we planned to purchase. Then we used to divide the list among ourselves so that we could purchase with our limited savings. To us, Ekushe Book Fair was 3rd Eid to us. Our parents used to be understand our excitement and give us some extra allowance so that we can save some extra for purchasing books. Then we would fix up a Friday or Saturday to visit the book fair. We use visit stall by stall and buy our listed books. Sometime we would try to get autograph of the writers. Sometime we would get if we were lucky.
Even in my college days, I didn’t miss any Ekushe book fair. I used to walk with my friends from Dhaka City College to book fair. It was fun. During my undergrad years, I used to visit my friends and buy most popular books. Till then I visited almost every bookfair. but as we I grew older, my number of visit to book fair started to decrease. It was difficult to visit the book fairs as I started to get busy. But I always wanted to visit the book fairs.
This year I had the chance to visit the book fair with my family. Specially with my daughter and my father. I haven’t gone to book fair with my father like in decade. Furthermore, this is the first visit of my daughter who is less than 1 year old. I wouldn’t make this visit this year as well if my elder niece didn’t requested me. She requested me to take her to the book fair and buy her some books. I took this opportunity and took all my family members. Although it was a short visit, I was managed to buy several interesting books. I was planning to visit the book fair at the end but I couldn’t make it. Still I am happy with the books I got. Hopefully I will be able to complete reading all the books before the next book fair. I have a history of start reading but never finishing.
I am trying to overcome this bad habit and finish all the books I have started reading. I am also trying to be redevelop my reading habit last couple of years. In 2023, I read around 15 books and in 2024 I read around 6 books. This year I have resolution to complete 12 books at least. Visit to book fair has strengthen my resolution.