Reading lives on

Ishara JAYAWARDANE and Nipuni WIMALAPALA

“I like reading books,” was the honest confession of Ravindu Panapitiya, a Grade 2 student of Sussex International School, Yakkala. He probably echoes the sentiments of most book lovers who walked through the gates of BMICH during the past few days to lose themselves in the pages of a thousand sweet smelling books at the Colombo International Book Fair.

We live in an age of tremendous scientific breakthroughs and information technology is the name of the game. IT is an essential in this world where knowledge means everything. With just one click of a button you can connect yourself to a wealth of information. A vast pool of knowledge is available on the net.

Yet despite such developments, the habit of reading still prevails. The joy of reading a novel, an engrossing page turner full of suspense and thrill, still remains strong in Sri Lanka. Novels such as that of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson keep coming out, still entertaining the public. The dust is finally settling after thousands of book lovers walked through the gates of BMICH. Here is a recap.

“It is a great opportunity for young people to find what they want. All the book sellers are here in one place and that is the key,” said (Pvt) Ltd employee, Dinesh Dharmadasa, 41, Global Learning. At the same time he identifies a few areas that have to be developed. “One problem is the travelling issue that people face from around 6.30 pm to 7.00 pm.”

We met Nethranajali Dissanayake, a 21 year-old university student, “Everything is cheap and there are a lot of discounts. You can find books that you can’t find in other places. But I wish the stalls could have been a little larger, because they are already so crowded.”

“One good thing about this is the discounts,” said Randhika of Red Cross. She has been coming to the International Book Fair since 2002 and vouches that this year is one of the best fairs yet.

Manoj Siyambalapitiya, Malpiyali Publications Manager opted to take part in this year’s fair as well due to its long standing success. “Without limiting this book fair to Colombo, they must have this in other parts of the island as well because there is a good readership in other parts of the country.” He is of the opinion that this will encourage the reading habits in Sri Lanka in an age where there are other avenues to get information.

“It is good for students,” said Kavindu of St Joseph’s college. “They have all kinds of books here.” Dushyantha Dias of Symphony (Pvt) Ltd thinks the fair could be further improved. “Facilities are insufficient. There were power cuts,” he explained.

Sachitra from Kandy, an undergraduate of Kelaniya University, had this to say about the book fair: “Some times the young crowds come just to hang. We just look around and get the feeling that we should read a book. So at the end of the day we buy at least one. The fair acts as a sort of motivation.” He also said that it is to track down the books that they are looking for. “Even though technology is highly developed and we have easy access to a lot of e-sources, books still have a great impact on people. Book is the closest friend of an academic. Nothing can replace a good book.”

A Buddhist Monk from Baddegama Saranankara Pirivena had this to say about the book fair: “Young students are reluctant to read. Especially in Pirivena education, reading is not practiced as in the old days. So it is very important to motivate them to read.” The group of monks had come as a group, organized by Ven Baddegama Samitha Thera. Apart from them, another 2000 school students are coming to the book fair under the guidance of Ven Baddegama Samitha Thera.

It is a good day for Manjula Dinapurna, Manager of Sarasavi Publishers. “This year is better compared to earlier years.

Most people who come to the book fair are buying books without just loitering.” He observes that children are very enthusiastic about the book fair. “Some children collect money in a till, whole year around, to buy books from this book fair.” Apparently novels, especially those that won state literary awards are more in demand. “There is a good demand for Sherlock Holmes, Enid Blyton and Sri Lankan Folk tales.”

The demand for school text books, work books, dictionaries, especially, Tamil text books have clearly increased. Chinese, French and Spanish books have a high demand as well.

Students from government schools come and buy books. A 25 percent discount is given for government school students and a 20 percent discount is given to other customers.

“There is a lesser demand for short story collections, religious books and translations this year compared to last year,” observes Manjula Dinapurna.

On the contrary Nilanthi Fernando, a teacher of Puttalam Fatima Balika Vidyalaya is very interested in translations. “I am a teacher and I came from Puttalam with a few other teachers of the school. We encourage students to read books. Some students also came with us. We hope to buy books for the school library.”

Sachitra Piumi and Oshani Maneka students of Gothami balika Vidyalaya, Colombo said they bought a lot of books which are relevant to their school syllabus.

In conclusion, it is heartening to realize that books are still in demand. Because this era has been founded on the shoulders of literary giants.

Great writers in the past have built a firm base for today’s writers. There are so many legendary writers abroad and here in Sri Lanka who have made it to the annals of literary history. Europe has had their Mark Twain and Jack London. In India, Arundhati Roy and in Sri Lanka the well known Martin Wickramasinghe. Similarly there are countless authors who have shaped the art of reading and has shaped the lives of this generation.

Pictures by Mahinda Vittanachchi