Promoting books

If the country did not have a bookstore of the order of a super store, it is going to have one soon. Next Friday, December 29 is expected to be the august day when Batighar, a Chittagong-based company, is set to inaugurate the super bookstore for book lovers. Batighar, however, has chosen Dhaka for opening the super outlet. It will be housed at Biswa Sahitya Kendro near the city's Bangla Motor. Until now bookstores have mistakenly been known here as libraries. Bookstores selling books have so far failed to rise up to the status of a super store of books simply because of the number of books on sale. This concept will be challenged by the enormous collection of more than 0.1 million in the proposed super store. Both readers and bibliophiles will rejoice over the opening of a bookstore on a scale like this. This again comes on the heel of another innovative book-reading facility opened recently by Bengal - a leading sponsor of art, culture and music.

At a time when readership of books, newspapers and magazines is dwindling, these initiatives should be considered highly valuable for bringing the people, the young generation in particular, to basics — the root of this nation. Indeed, the facebook, selfie generation is poised to dive headlong into a world of fantasy and uncertainty. Immediacy counts for them and they want to live the present moment somehow without any consideration for the future. Not all have jumped on the bandwagon but the majority have indulged in such futile luxury. The bookstores or libraries have created facilities for readers and book connoisseurs keeping in mind the special demand the young generation make. This is what may be the clinching points for Batighar and Bengal Books to draw readers from all ages.

Admittedly, to take such a daunting challenge one must have a big heart. The pioneers deserve unreserved appreciation for thinking big in terms of books. Libraries in some of the developed countries are so many and large that those serve as the storehouse of knowledge. Bangladesh does not boast any such library. Even when it comes to number of libraries, the paucity should shame the nation. The two facilities are capital-centric and their range and scope will mostly be limited to city people. In this respect the Biswa Sahitya Kendro has pioneered a book reading movement all across the country. Pathak Samaj, a bookstore, first concentrated on catering to discerning readers and in the process also contributed to creating taste for classics.

Despite all such efforts, the book-reading habit among the young people has declined sharply. Even the latest ventures undertaken by Batighar and Bengal Books cannot make happen a resurgence of reading books in the country in the face of growing popularity of cell phone contents - however cheap and hollow those are. Such nice initiatives should be taken all across the country. In this connection, world classics should be translated and printed locally under some arrangements so that the price is within the reach of readers here. People must be made to realise that knowledge has no alternative. All who think in terms of books must join hands in order to promote reading habit among people.