Amritsar, March 5, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
The four-day-long `Amritsar Literary Festival and Book Fair-2021’ at Khalsa College today concluded with a promising note that the love for books has not fully vanished . Despite the youth largely clinging to mobile phones or computers, the reading habits are still intact as books worth Rs. 30 lakhs were sold during the festival.
There were around 50 stalls of the books and the people from all age groups showed tremendous response and printers and publishers were happy with their sale. “Yes the response had been tremendous and we sold a good number of books’’, said Gurjant Singh, from University Publications of Punjabi University, Patiala. National Book Trust officials also hailed the response. “The interest shown by the book lovers speaks volume of reading habits of the books still prevalent, said Dr. Mehal Singh, Principals, KCA.
Noted Punjabi poet and writer Surjit Pattar who had inaugurated the festival had expressed concerns that the reading habits were dying as the youth was seen more on mobile and computers than reading the books. “Books are and will always remain the best source of knowledge. It is highly stimulating to read a book rather than see it on screen”, said Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, secretary, Khalsa College Governing Council and a book-lover himself.
Meanwhile, the cultural bonanza and seminars marked the concluding day functions as the students of the Theatre department of Khalsa College presented a beautiful presentation of `Kade Dade Diyan, Kade Pote Diyan’, directed by Emanual Singh. A seminar on `Sahit, Samaj and Patarkari’ discussed the growing concerns of the quality of the literature and journalism in the present context of commercialization.
Prof Dr. Jagroop Singh, Dr. Rajnish Bahadur, Balbir Parwana, Dr.Kulwant Singh spoke on the subjects as Dr.Atam Randhawa, head Department of Punjabi Studies coordinated the talk. The students of Theatre presented beautiful presentations of dance and music under the directions of Registrar Prof. Devender Singh.
