Pahela Falgun usually falls on February 13 but this year it coincided with Valentine's Day after Bangla Academy revised the Bangla calendar to match the Gregorian calendar. Falgun is the 11th month of the Bengali calendar and the first month of the spring season.
Amar Ekushey Boi Mela remained open from 11am to 9pm with 1,991 new books hitting the fair so far.
Thousands of people, especially the youth, wore ‘Bashonti’ (yellow or orange coloured) dresses, and thronged the fair grounds. Stalls of popular publications buzzed with book enthusiasts while some stalls gave away book markers to visitors as gift on the occasion of Pahela Falgun.
Shami Akter, a former student of Rajshahi University, came to the fair with her friends. “It’s a coincidence that we get the opportunity to observe two major festivals on the same day, but this year it happened,” she told UNB.
“February is the month of emotion for us. Valentine’s Day added extra colour to our traditional festival Pahela Falgun,” she said.
Salesmen of different book stores were struggling to attend the huge number of visitors. They said the sale had been satisfactory.
Tasnuva Adiba, publisher of Adhyayan Publication, said people want to gift books to their favorites persons on special occasion. “The book fair is a great place for many to celebrate the first day of spring and buy new books,” she said.
Faria Tabassum, a BBA student of a private university, said she bought two books for her favourite persons.
Publishers from across the country are showcasing a huge number of books on different issues while the Bangla Academy is exhibiting 104 newly printed and reprinted books this year.
This year, 873 units were allocated to 560 organisations. The authorities have allotted 179 units at the Bangla Academy ground to 126 organisations and 694 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 694 organisations.
The fair remains open from 3pm to 9pm on weekdays and from 11am to 9pm on weekends.