HYDERABAD: Organised by the New Delhi-based startup Kitablovers, run by R K Shanker and Rahul Pandey, ‘Load the Box’ is one-of-its-kind book fair in the country, where people don’t choose the books, but the box. Just grab a box and fill it with as many books as you can. One can choose from a ‘money saver’ box at Rs 1200 that fits 10-13 books, a ‘wealth box’ at Rs 1800 which fits 17-20 books or a ‘treasure box’ at Rs 3000 fits around 30-33 books.
The place was filled with bibliophiles of all age groups. Book lovers were open to choose from a collection of over 10 lakh books by various authors and from a range of genres in both fiction and non-fiction. Fiction included crime, romance and fantasy, whereas, non-fiction comprised books on international affairs, religion, and science, biographies and dictionaries.
“The best thing I’ve seen so far is watching young people moving towards self-help books and non-fiction genres as well; it’s amazing to see parents getting their kids into a habit of reading,” says Rahul, one of the organisers, adding, he said, “We are delighted to host the book fair in Hyderabad. This is our fifth event in the city, and we are so happy to be back. Our book fair offers books at the most affordable costs and most importantly, serves a wide range of book readers. From toddlers to senior citizens, there’s books for everyone.”
R K Shanker, another organiser said, “We’re also hosting storytelling sessions, and author-signing sessions. It’s incredible to watch so many young kids and teenagers getting back into reading passionately. In order to engage book lovers, we’re also holding drawing sessions.
Basically, we wanted to create an environment for book lovers to feel at home. It’s not very often we get to see so many people come together for books in this generation, but the number of people coming forward to donate books and re-love the used ones, it’s a very positive environment altogether.”
While talking about the challenges of filling their box, Bhavana and Anushka, CAs by profession, shared, “After the completion of our tiresome course, it’s a pleasure to finally be able to read peacefully.
We love the collection here of genres ranging from romance and paranormal/thriller books. Finding pre-loved books and new ones here, it has everything.” Danny, a 14-year-old kid said, “I love reading. I can get books from literally any genre. Even my parents are finding books for themselves.”