Sanjay Last Titles: Book- A very talkative, silent friend. (Chelvani) If you look at the book like this, it may look very cheap or very expensive or it may be priceless. With every book and every copy of it, the shadow of the author hovers. Once the famous English writer Bernard Shaw saw a pile of junk books on the sidewalk, where his eyes fell on one of his own. On the very first page of the book was a gift note to a close friend with his own signature and signature. Bernard Shaw asked the scavenger, 'How much did you buy the book for?' 'A pound.' That said. What happened to Bernard Shaw – 'He sold the book he gave me as a present to my best friend for just one pound?' Shaw then bought the book and wrote under an old note on the first page, 'A present to you again, dear friend.' Signed and dated below and sent! Talking about books, according to a recent survey, there are 229 government libraries in our prosperous Gujarat, which have more than 43.21 lakh books. But there are only five lakh reader members who read the books! On the other hand, half of the books worth Rs 1598 crore were sold in a small country like Ireland in 2023. The Irish are fond of listening to stories and are intoxicated with books. Perhaps that is why writers there often win Nobel-Booker prizes. On the other hand, writing and selling books in Gujarati, Hindi or all Indian languages except Bengali-Malayali or Marathi is really like opening a laundry in the village of Digambaras. It ranges from 'Dude, books are expensive' to 'Lya, where are good books written in Gujarati?' One gets to hear such creative excuses. The crowd of book-fairs is a crowd like a mass-wedding. In which the few who are actually married come to meet each other and eat more! Behind Ireland's literary success is the government's Arts Council, which allocates around Rs 1300 crore annually to literature. Authors are awarded crores of rupees by the government, the income of authors up to Rs 47 lakh is income tax-free. There is also a project to give writers 30 thousand rupees per week from above. Doesn't this sound like a fairy tale for people who steal books from public libraries? Kate McXar, a freelance writer from Ireland, says that Irish people can talk for an hour on even a trivial topic like the weather. That is why Ireland has become the hub of a rapidly growing congested network of magazine publishers, bookshops and libraries, and we there? Jaane Bhi Do Yaron, not 'Baat Niklegi To Dur Talak' but 'Pas Talak Jayegi' means our people will come out! Let's skip that, good news. Recently, a 'Horse Library' has been started to boost the declining reading habit among children in the hilly areas of Kumaon. 29-year-old Shubham Sabhani, a resident of Kotabagh, Nainital, thought of distributing books on horseback to villages in the remote hilly areas of Kumaon and started a 'horse library'! Shubham says that in hilly villages there is a big problem of both road and network connectivity whereas in big cities children can read books online comfortably. Children are allowed to keep books in this 'Horse Library' for a week and the funny thing is, hill children are loving this 'Horse Library'. If we tell anyone the idea of a 'horse library', we will be considered donkeys! Interval: Kis tarah jama keijiye ab upne aap ko? Kagaz bikhar rahe hain purani kitab k. (Adil Mansoori) A zamindar's house was sought for the daughter of a famous Bengali novelist. The author, along with his wife went to the zamindar there. At the station came to take a luxurious carriage with four horsemen in front and back! The zamindar's mansion had hundreds of bighas of land, servants, elephants, horses and all the comforts of the world. The zamindar showered the writer-couple with precious gifts while going back after receiving a warm welcome from the writer. On the way, the writer's wife said, 'The luck of the daughter has changed. Raj will rule in the mansion.' The author said with a fit, 'Raj will do it when we marry him there!' 'Why? What is missing in that house?' asked the wife in surprise. The writer said with a sigh, 'There is no shortage in that mansion but there is no Amita either! I did not see a single book there. Our daughter has grown up surrounded by thousands of books throughout her life. In a mansion without books, that is, without a heart, one will go mad.' Balaichand Mukhopadhyay's Bengali story 'A House Without Books' speaks volumes. Would you believe, book loving Bengalis gift their daughter with jewelry-clothes along with books of great writers. Bengalis form spiral lines morning and evening at the book fair held every year. Half of the books worth Rs 28 crore were sold in 10 days at the Kolkata Book Fair in 2023. Here we Gujaratis give hundreds of excuses not to buy books. Why talk about Gujarati identity when we, more than seven and a half crore Gujaratis, can't even buy 2000 copies of a book, eh? Enjoy Jokajoki dramas-movies by doing Jalsa. Gujarati Thali Jamo Ne Testhi Sunday Manavone, Yar… End Titles: Adam: Mare Tne Chanwani. Eve: I'm a blank book.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
Raag Bindas: I'm Tired of Writing Papers: The Happy-Sad Story of Books
