Boipara hopes for Kol-Dhaka trade revival before Durga Puja
Times of India | 22 July 2024
Kolkata: The College Street Boipara looked forward to a revival of the book trade between Kolkata and Dhaka that has come to a halt due to the violence in the neighbouring country. Book traders and publishers are keeping fingers crossed for the situation to normalize well before Durga Puja, which sees business soar with huge consignments of books and ‘puja numbers’ from Kolkata being sent across the border.Similar consignments arrive in the city from Bangladesh and have a huge demand in Kolkata.
Bengali books from Kolkata are exported to Dhaka throughout the year. At present, despatch of consignments has stopped and new orders from Bangladesh have been suspended. “Orders for a huge number of books from Bangladesh have been stalled for the last 10 days and a sizeable number of books are waiting for despatch at exporters’ godowns. We hope peace will now prevail in Bangladesh,” said Sudhanshu Dey, secretary of Publishers & Booksellers Guild.
‘Bangla Bazar’, the Boi Para of Dhaka, has been deserted, said book traders in Kolkata.
“Books by Indian writers, especially Bengali authors, have a huge demand in Bangladesh. Similarly, we have a steady section of readers of Bangladeshi writers, like Humayun Ahmed, Sadat Hossain and Zafar Iqbal,” said Partha Sankar Basu of Naya Udyog that deals with publishers in Bangladesh. “The recent unrest has stalled the entire exchange of books,” Basu added.
A proposal for a book fair in Dhaka, like the Kolkata book fair, has been in the pipeline and Bangladesh was the theme country of the 45th International Kolkata Book Fair in 2022. “I have pushed back a meeting in Dhaka next week regarding a book fair in Bangladesh. Who will buy books in this ambience of unrest? However, I have no doubt that the situation will improve very soon,” said Tridib Chatterjee, president of Publishers and Booksellers Guild.
The puja numbers published in Kolkata are sold in large numbers across the border. “We wait throughout the year for the ‘puja sankhyas’ with covers by eminent Indian artists,” said Nizamuddin Minto, a Dhaka trader and an avid reader.
“A lot of books from our publication are stacked at our exporter’s godown for 10 days. The Bangladesh Supreme Court order will hopefully smoothen the situation,” said Bijesh Saha of Pratibhas publication.