Literary fest turns klepto convention

But organisers shrug it off, saying it was natural in the presence of a 3-lakh-strong crowd

But organisers shrug it off, saying it was natural in the presence of a 3-lakh-strong crowd

While the response at the gala Kannada Sahitya Sammelana (Kannada Literary Convention) was phenomenal, shoplifters enjoyed a free-for-all at counters at the book exhibition." The crowds are too vast for us for us to manage," said Mahesh, a salesman of Sapna Book Stall that has set up the biggest stall. "The space is so congested that we could not a have a proper billing arrangement. Several people simply walked away with the books without paying for them, he added."


Book lovers unite: A major chunk of the crowd thronged the book
counters at the exhibitionu00a0 where 300 publishing houses have set up
382 stalls. Organisers didn't file complaints against the shoplifters because
they didn't want to strike a bad note. Pic/Ramesh HS

He said the stall had found at least 10 theft cases a day in the three-day event, and many more cases were going unnoticed. While an estimated three lakh people have attended the convention spread over three days since Friday, a major chunk of the crowd thronged the counters at the exhibition where 300 publishing houses have set up 382 stalls. Although a publisher said that sales grossed over Rs 3 crore, organisers are putting it around Rs 7 crore.

"We have not yet calculated the figure accurately, but it can be estimated at Rs 7 crore," said N Chandrappa, coordinator of the book exhibition and sales committee. "It has been a success, so we are extending the book sales until tomorrow (Tuesday)."

However, he was clueless about the rampant theft of books. "It is natural with a huge crowd, but I have not come across such incidents. Also, no publisher has complained with us yet," he said, while admitting he had not expected such a good response and the arrangements would have been much better.

"Some of us had predicted a space crunch, and suggested to organise the event at the Palace Grounds, since the area is much larger," said Prakash Kamabathalli, owner, Ankitha Prakashana, one of the leading publishers in the state.

He said publishers had requested for a space of at least 20 ft between each stall, but only 10 ft was allowed. Also, there were no curtains or screens to enclose the stalls in the night, so 'book lovers' had a field day. "Putting up curtains was not in the tender when the contract for the enclosure was given, and the space between the stalls was well-calculated," said Chandrappa.

Two local civil contractors, Kiran and Mahesh, bagged the contract with a payment of Rs 18 lakh. They were unavailable to comment when attempts were made contact them. Predicting the problem, some publishers including Ankitha Parkashana even backed out. According to a publisher the loss incurred because of the theft was at least 10 percent of the sales.

This reporter spoke to a shoplifter who was caught red-handed. "I was just having some fun. I wanted to pay for the books, but there is no proper system. It was easier to just walk away without paying." "We didn't want to strike a bad note when such a good thing is happening, so we didn't complain to the police, but instead deputed more salesmen to keep watch, said Santhosh, sales manager at Sapna book stall."

Men only
All the shoplifters were male. "We have caught around 30 people stealing. None of them were women," said Mahesh.

Dusty premises

Another big problem was the dust in the premises.u00a0 "Contractors have not taken care of this issue and everyone here is suffering from it," said a salesman in a stall. "I have developed an allergy, and will have to take medication when I go home," said Ashok, a senior film actor, who was seen masking his nose with a napkin at the venue.