Horrifying experience at Kolkata Book Fair 2014

I visited Kolkata Book Fair on 1^st February, 2014, Saturday and had to have a horrifying experience. Since my childhood I have a special sentiment for Book Fair. But this year I’m really disturbed and disappointed with the way the event is being organized. The stalls of some TV channels which telecast cheap & popular entertainment programs like daily soaps or some stupid reality shows are really become nuisances. These channels are organizing stupid talk shows and cheap music contests in very loud volume in their stalls inside the fairground which are causing noise pollution and destroying the atmosphere of Book Fair. This type of substandard, sub-cultured and distasteful things like quiz contest on Bengali TV-serials or “Antakshari” or dance contest don’t go with the flavor of the booklovers like me who have passion for books for serious thoughts.  The stalls of entertainment TV channels like Star-Jalsa and others are really killing the true spirit of Book Fair. I visited Stall No. 371B that is of “International Publication” to meet my friends there, but cannot talk to or hear a single word as a quiz show on Bengali Daily soaps was going on in a very high volume from the “Star-Jalsa” stall which was making very loud noise. That experience was very appalling and I was wondering what the hell this entertainment TV channels were doing in Book Fair. My friends said they lodged complaints to the Book Fair organizers but there has been no response from their end. People are just coming to Book Fair to visit this stalls of the channels for some cheap entertainment and then go to the food park to have biriyanis and chow-meins and go home. Thus the real spirit Book Fair is being constantly undermined and ruined. I request the Publishers and Booksellers Guild no to allow these channels inside the Book Fair if they at all want to retain it as a “Book-Fair”. Otherwise the “Kolkata Boi –Mela” should be renamed as “TV Channel Mela” or “Biriyani-Mela”!