Book Fair-Day 1

We walked around the huge Book Fair today—2,500 stalls—and in five hours we only saw a portion of it. It was packed. Lots of families trolling for good books. It was a wonderful sight. Stalls from many of our favorite booksellers—Oxford, Cambridge, Routledge..but then also Indian publishers that we are learning about. Lots of books in Hindi. And many stalls dedicated to individual gurus and their publications. Many of the books by western publishers are sold at a much lower price…so that Indians can actually afford them. An Indian press called Jaico reprints books published in the UK (and maybe the US too) –almost like high end photocopies with less professionally produced covers—here and sells them at a really affordable price. They describe their mission—to make books more readily available to all Indians and they demonstrate an agreement with the western publisher.

What to do? As we took an auto rickshaw—motorbikes with covered back seats, but open on both sides-- to the Book Fair this little girl (maybe 6 years old) came up to us. She look liked she rolled around in a dustbin for several days, was wearing rags and her hair stood up more than it laid down. Very sad. She stood at the rickshaw as we waited at a light—asking for money in Hindi. This happens pretty regularly, and we have been encouraged to donate in more productive ways, as it is known that these kids are often being pimped by some unsavoury adult..and don’t get the money anyway. And we have heard many stories of people taking pity on one kid and offering them a little money or food and then the rest of the gang senses the donation and decends. Needless to say it’s a very uncomfortable situation…as she could certainly use a whole lot of help. These kids tend to be pretty persistent and will stand around asking for several minutes. But this little girl not only put her hand into the rickshaw, but she took her other hand and gently took hold of my ankle. Man, what’s a person supposed to do? She stood there like this looking at me for what seemed like an eternity.