KARACHI: The hunger for books was apparent in everyone as the doors of the 11th Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF) opened to the general public at the Expo Centre on Thursday afternoon.

Among the first visitors to the annual five-day book fair on the inaugural day were women of all ages and tastes in reading, children, especially students, and elderly folks.

Badarunnisa and Nusrat Jabeen, assistant librarians at the Institute of Business Administration, said that they were looking for books for their new library. “We got invitations from our regular vendors from whom our institution already subscribes around 50 international journals and magazines to visit their stalls here and have a look at more such publications,” said Ms Badarunnisa.

“We are also looking for books that would be relevant to business students. For that we are making a list, which we’ll take back to our institution so that they can work on the invoices if they agree with our choices,” said Nusrat Jabeen.

Among the other women there many were looking for novels in Urdu as well as in English, some were interested in religious books while others helped their children who they had brought there directly after picking them up from their schools. Haniya Younus, a student of class five, was looking for Roald Dahl titles in particular. “I have a list in my head of the books I haven’t read as yet such as The Witches, The Twits and Fantastic Mr Fox,” she said.

Meanwhile, Laiq Ahmed, was at the Sage Books stall in Hall-1, looking through their textbooks, particularly those on English grammar. “I am always looking for good quality publications, which can be textbooks or self-help books. Book fairs are great places for buying books as there is so much on offer under one roof. It makes selection easy and the discounts are always welcome,” he said.

“I have a small library at my place to which I keep adding books. I want my children and grandchildren to have a variety of reading material at their disposal so I enjoy buying books as a hobby that I am developing after recently retiring from the Pakistan Air Force,” he said.

When asked what an ex-PAF officer was doing in an Indian books stall, the gentleman laughed. “My child, books give us knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is treasure. Selecting books in a book fair as big as this one, is more like a treasure hunt. You never know where you’ll find that treasure you are looking for.”

Earlier, at the opening ceremony of the book fair, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said that it was sad to see how we as a nation had made a fool of ourselves by saying that the country had a 62 per cent literacy rate. “It is easy to make a fool of someone else but we here have done it to ourselves. You tell me, how those who can barely read the headlines in newspapers be called educated?” he asked.

About the KIBF, he suggested to its organisers that they should also arrange such book fairs in other cities like Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana to promote the reading culture besides spreading awareness.

For the Consul General of Turkey in Karachi, Murat Mustafa Onart, who first time visited the KIBF, there were translations of Turkish books in Urdu.

Happy to be a part of the book fair and expressing his delight over the popularity of Turkish plays and soap operas in Pakistan, he said that they had brought 42 titles translated into Urdu.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015

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