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Officially, there is a UNESCO-designated World Book Day on 23 April, being marked now for the last 20 years. What does it mean to each one of us individually? Can we make it a more meaningful and personal day? A day we look forward to. And plan for. A day you receive a book as a gift. A day, you are sure, someone who likes you will give you a present and show his caring and her concern. A day you make personal enough, to spend time and go buy a book for someone you care for. Or love or respect or want to show appreciation for.

‘In interacting with young people in India, US, and elsewhere, I have noticed an impressive decline in book reading’, says Vishal Gupta, Associate Professor, The University of Mississippi School of Business Administration. This, despite an official Book Day. World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day is a yearly event organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to promote reading, publishing and copyright. The history of the day comes from Spain, 1616. Spanish booksellers marked 23rd of April since 1923 to pay tribute to its most famous author, Miguel de Cervantes. The day is the death anniversary of Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, 1605.

Vishal Gupta is a booklover and a voracious reader. He points out that young people prefer facebook, twitter, and social media compared to sitting down to read a book.

What if we zeroed in on one day a year as Book Day, when people gift each other books to read, share stories about books they read, and so on. Kind of like Valentine’s Day and Teacher’s Day, but for books? Can we manage to kick off this idea of International Book Day? Can we popularise this idea in India? Professor Gupta, who lives and works in the USA also wants to publicise the idea in the US, and try to make it a truly international day for showing our love and affection for books.

‘I won’t say I love books, but rather that I live them. Every aspect and dimension of my life seems to centre around them. The power of words and the joys of books and ideas make everything worthwhile’, says Namita Gokhale, the writer. Everyone knows the woman who has crafted, now perhaps the world’s biggest popular book-centred event, the Jaipur Literature Festival. The JLF is basically a celebration around books, all things book-related and it happens in India. So why cannot gifting a book become popular in India as a celebration of a particular day? Some 20 years later, one can perhaps say, on this day, this year 20 million Indians gifted books to each other.

Are tech-savvy communities less of book readers?
Not necessarily so. Publisher Chiki Sarkar has one of the most innovative book platforms, Juggernaut. Books here are in e-format, to be read on the phone. There could not be a more convenient delivery mode. So, because technology has advanced, have books become obsolete? Chiki says, ‘Stories help us see another point of view, immerse us in other worlds, teach us to think, and communicate ideas and facts—that’s why books are essential in our lives.’ Books and reading, in whatever format. Another technocrat, Bill Koul, an engineering consultant in Perth and now a writer, says, ‘I love books because they are amongst our best friends’.

Books offer unconditional company and support to us in most situations of life; particularly, when our human friends are not close by, or choose to look away. With a book at hand, there can never be a dull moment.

have h i s t o r i c a l l y provided footholds for the humankind to transcend to a more civilised and sophisticated society that we are now from the original ‘hunter and gatherer’ existence as cave dwellers. Books illuminate the human mind with knowledge. Historically, books have remained as the most proven means for education, for learning and teaching, and the preservation of important historical accounts of the time, in all walks of life. Books channelise the human thought and expression about current and potential issues in the world-social, environmental, political and the general life; raise awareness amongst the people about those issues and, thus, help to address them.

Thanks to books, the world has so far been able to preserve its art and culture, literature, scientific discoveries and inventions, and the political history. The word of mouth has its own limitations; potentially subject to distortions. In essence, without books, the world would have been dark, ignorant and uncultured. Prof Gupta has also proposed the Rule of One, reading’s minimum threshold. Something each one can observe. Beginning with this April week, or the month of April or May, this year sometime….any day remembering 23 April, the Book Day.

Book Link Correspondent