<i>Thousands throng Boi Mela</i>
Language Movement veteran Abdul Matin watches as a child chalks down words during a competition on Bangla alphabets organised by Karok Natya Samprodai on the Central Shaheed Minar premises in the city yesterday. Photo: STAR
Thousands of booklovers thronged the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday -- the last weekend before the closing of the fair on Wednesday. They found it difficult to visit the stalls and flip through their desired books. Many even could not get to the stalls which sold books of popular writers. “You need not walk here, just wait for the crowd to move you ahead,” said Mizanur Rahman, an employee at a private bank. He came from the city's Uttara area with his wife and three children to visit the fair at Bangla Academy premises. Failing to look around the fair, they had been waiting in front of the information centre around 5:10pm and hoping for the gathering to become thinner. “I have come today as it is the last Friday of the fair and I won't be able to visit on any working day,” he pointed out. Azim Uddin Mintu, a student of Govt Titumir College, had been in a queue for more than 30 minutes to enter the fair. “The end of the queue had reached the fine arts faculty of Dhaka University,” he mentioned. The security personnel also had a tough time with the huge number of visitors entering the fair through the archways. At sunset, the fair was almost packed with visitors. “This is probably the biggest crowd of the fair in this year,” said bookseller Safayet at the little magazine corner. A total of 149 new titles covering a wide variety of literature hit the fair yesterday. Booksellers said the pressure on their sales was high.
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