The month-long Ekushey Boi Mela on Thursday witnessed a fall in the number of visitors and booklovers attending the fair.
With the Martyrs Day national holiday and the weekend, busy city dwellers got an opportunity to visit family members and relatives in their hometowns.
On top of that, the recent tragic Chawkbazar fire incident has left a pale of sorrow over the capital.
Every year, much of the city population observes this day by paying their respects for language martyrs at the Central Shaheed Minar, and later attending the Ekushey Boi Mela amid friends, families, and fellow book lovers.
The book fair gates opened at 8am in the morning, expecting huge crowds of visitors, back from paying their respects at the Central Shaheed Minar, waiting in line to get into the fair.
However, unlike in past years, this year the entrance to the fair saw no eager crowds gathered to get in.
Instead, on Thursday, the book fair saw visitors in black and white attire and in sombre mood.
The publishers had their reason to be unhappy. With so few fairgoers, sales also saw a decline.
Sales representatives ready to see a busy day at their stalls saw even less book sales than usual.
They were hoping the number of fairgoers would increase by the latter part of the day. Publishers also complained about their inaccessible stall locations on top of the very few customers.
Despite the tough time, booklovers attending the fair were seen being cheered up at the sight of their favourite books and at the chance to read them.
Booklovers, especially students and parents with their children, were found buying books at different stalls, despite the atmosphere being not so festive.
A visitor, Bazlur Rahman Bhuiyan from Mirpur, came with his three daughters to buy books by authors like Humayun Ahmed, Anisul Hoque, and Zafar Iqbal.
“I came with my daughters as they love to read books. Besides, the day reminds us of our history and the importance of our mother language,” he added.
Meanwhile, police authorities arranged a blood donation service at the book fair, allowing willing donors to support the Chawkbazar fire victims.
According to the Bangla Academy Information desk, 396 books on the subject of International Mother Language Day were published this year, while a total of 3,363 books have been published on the subject since the annual Ekushey book fair first began many years ago in 1960.
