Well, another world book fair in Delhi, same location, Pragati Maidan. The last one we visited was last year in September, a little different one, named as Delhi Book Fair. This one, the World Book Fair is organized by the National Book Trust of India and in fact NBT organizes a lot of book fairs in India, from Goa to Jodhpur to Meghalaya and Assam, its trying to propagate the reading habit and trying to make the books available to one and all in all corners of the country.
Well, we thought, the earlier the better, so Saturday would be the first day. But as per Nannas wishes, we sailed towards the National Rail Museum on Saturday for a fantastic fun-filled day.
And so we were there at Pragati Maidan on Sunday , 3rd Feb 2008 and to our relief, it wasn't crowded at all. In any case, the book fairs are far less crowded than the Auto Fair.
Just for the stats, the Auto Fair had around 1.8 million visitors this year in Jan while this World Book Fair had less than 1.2 m. Well the numbers don't tell the whole story, this despite the fact that the ticket for book fair was just Rs 10/- each all seven days of the week, while the entry for Auto Fair was Rs 150/- for weekdays and Rs 300/- each for the weekends. Well, doesn't matter, am just trying to vent the disgrunt I have for this, as all these books available there such huge knowledge for anybody and everybody, but we are not able to understand the value of them in our lives.
So, this World Book Fair, wasn't any different from the earlier ones. This time, Russia was the Guest of Honor for this fair, so there were a lot of activities going outside hall # 7, some nukkad natak, or enacting a kids story from Russia to make people aware of the culture and life there. A drawing competition for the kids, the kids were drawing some unbelievable art and the whole wall, I think around 25-30 feet was covered with the paintings up to a height of 6 feet, so if you calculate, a lot of paintings.
So, we kept on roaming the Pragati Maidan, but Nanna was very tired, and it was tough for us to carry her and then freely browse the innumerable books there. How I wished, we had brought the stroller with us. But well, nothing can be done now. So, moving ahead, there were a few things in our list already, the first was, to buy a black board. And soon we reached there, and got a good black board, which on the other side is a white board. And it has already started coming to use at home, that I can't tell you.
Alright, there were a lot of publishers, which many of us know about. There are two which I found the most fantastic and new discovery kinds. One, Indus Publishing House, which specialises in the books of Himalayan terrain, be it the forest, wildlife, herbs and horticulture , trekking, rock climbing, natives, migrants, culture, festivals, life on mountains. It was an amazing collection they had. Earlier I already had a few books from the Outlook gallery on travel, but I think this is a class apart. Although I still have to read one from them, but the sheer collection is too good. In fact, now Outlook, has also started coming out with their own series of travel for many countries, after covering the whole of India. I also have subscribed to the "Outlook Traveler" magazine, and I like it very much, Marco is the best thing in it, if you know.
Second, was Parragon Publishing, they had some fantastic books on display, about oceans, history, science, polar regions, wildlife, Ferrari's, bikes and they were all with fantastic photographs. Something, which I highly appreciate in a book of information providing kinds, as it makes it readable for kids as well. I don't know their Indian outlet or website, but they mentioned and I have seen myself also, their books are generally available at all good book shops, Crossword, Om Books, Oxford Book Store, etc.
We got a few books from many different stalls and we are all set to go. It has been a good day, but somehow we missed the Stationery fair. We always like to go to Stationery fair, which is also on there along with the Book fair. When in US, you get good shops with everything related to stationery, and you like to go and shop there, but here its difficult to find any good stationery shop, which caters to all your requirements, so we wanted to visit it, but couldn't help. Although, I have recently heard, that Reliance has opened up a huge stationery shop in a Gurgaon mall, just like there Reliance Digital or Reliance Footprint and am looking forward to visit it soon.
I appreciate and applaud the National Book Trust for doing such good efforts.
Showing posts with label National Rail Museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Rail Museum. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Visit to National Railway Musuem, Chanakyapuri
Its been a long time since we were thinking of going to National Rail Museum. Although, it wasn't particularly this Saturday, i.e., 2nd Feb 2008, that we were going there. In fact as the World Book Fair had started on Friday, we were almost sure to go there on Sat. But, then Sat morning, the newspaper told us, that the Rail Museum is celebrating their Museum Day over this weekend and are having a few workshops and other attractions for kids as well as adults. This did pull our thoughts towards it and finally Nanna decided that we should be going to Rail Museum and may be can visit the Book Fair tomorrow, i.e., on Sunday.
First of all, we missed where it is, and reached the Nehru Planetarium but then after asking a couple of auto wallas, who gave us the most perfect direction possible, we reached there. The next dour neighbor to the Rail Museum is the Royal Bhutanese Embassy and its an exact replica of all the Bhutan architecture we see in any book or magazine, or I can say, was a perfect example of the Dzongs with same structural design and exterior paintwork and looked awesome from the front gate.
So, back to museum, its a huge rush there and no parking, but thats a normal scenario here in the capital, so no problems. Then the entry tickets are Rs 10/- each and Rs 5/- for kids.
As soon as we enter, there are so many old steam engines in the view. Especially for Nanna, to see a railway engine so close was exhilarating. And many of those engines were really very clean and open for kids and adults to climb up and see for themselves. So, she went into a couple of engines, reached their top and was enjoying to the most. There was a fantastic souvenir shop, from where we bought a couple of key chains, some magnets and stickers etc. Although, there were good books available on Railways and trains and also models of Fairy Queen and a few other stem engines, but they all were upwards of Rs 1000/- .
Then, there were a few workshops happening there. One was a guided tour of a the museum, the learned person from the Indian Railway would tell us about all the engines, their life and their history. It would have been good, but with Nanna, it is difficult. Then there was another about Bird Watching. The one, which I was interested about was "Train Modeling".
There I met a volunteer, who was working and showcasing the modeling there at the museum, just for the sheer liking and following for the models. He himself had a lot of models and has been following this hobby since childhood. Well, although, there he was telling about the models, a small slide show about different models, and I was primarily interested in railroad modeling. Still meeting him, I had a lot of information. primary was that there are people who are interested in the same thing, and many of them in Delhi. That there is a yahoo group also. That yahoo group told me about the website of Indian Railway Fan Club, seems like very good, but I still have to explore it well. That gentleman from B'lore is devoting 2-3 hours daily to revive the old engines, the models which are kind of 100 years old. He mentioned, that there are 10-12 volunteers, who are planning to build a huge model railroad withing the next one year by contributing. It seems like fun and I hope to be back here soon.
There there were a couple of small steam engines running around, where we could buy ticket and sit in. So, we got tickets for ourselves and waited for the train to arrive at the station. It is a very small one, and it was definitely very enjoying ride for us and especially for Nanna. The joy train took a complete round of the museum, which has stations with benches where people can sit, tunnels, turns and all the fun. It was fun, and Nanna was jumping with joy. She wanted to sit in the train for some more time, but the line at the ticket window was very long, so I forgot that idea. And, we lunged towards the food court, a few tents serving the chat pakaudi etc. For next time, I will remember to buy 2-3 pair of tickets in one go for the train ride.
Then, there was a steam engine, which was I think 10 inches or so high, and was being driven by sitting on top of it, and could take only two small kids as its passengers. It was fantastic to see it running. Nanna was a little afraid so didn't ride it, but I will make sure the next time we go there, if its running, she sure takes a ride.
The biggest mistake of the day, we didn't take camera along with us for the day. Well, to take it in positive stride, we decided to be back here at the museum very soon, and this time with camera, so as to take back the beautiful memories.
First of all, we missed where it is, and reached the Nehru Planetarium but then after asking a couple of auto wallas, who gave us the most perfect direction possible, we reached there. The next dour neighbor to the Rail Museum is the Royal Bhutanese Embassy and its an exact replica of all the Bhutan architecture we see in any book or magazine, or I can say, was a perfect example of the Dzongs with same structural design and exterior paintwork and looked awesome from the front gate.
So, back to museum, its a huge rush there and no parking, but thats a normal scenario here in the capital, so no problems. Then the entry tickets are Rs 10/- each and Rs 5/- for kids.
As soon as we enter, there are so many old steam engines in the view. Especially for Nanna, to see a railway engine so close was exhilarating. And many of those engines were really very clean and open for kids and adults to climb up and see for themselves. So, she went into a couple of engines, reached their top and was enjoying to the most. There was a fantastic souvenir shop, from where we bought a couple of key chains, some magnets and stickers etc. Although, there were good books available on Railways and trains and also models of Fairy Queen and a few other stem engines, but they all were upwards of Rs 1000/- .
Then, there were a few workshops happening there. One was a guided tour of a the museum, the learned person from the Indian Railway would tell us about all the engines, their life and their history. It would have been good, but with Nanna, it is difficult. Then there was another about Bird Watching. The one, which I was interested about was "Train Modeling".
There I met a volunteer, who was working and showcasing the modeling there at the museum, just for the sheer liking and following for the models. He himself had a lot of models and has been following this hobby since childhood. Well, although, there he was telling about the models, a small slide show about different models, and I was primarily interested in railroad modeling. Still meeting him, I had a lot of information. primary was that there are people who are interested in the same thing, and many of them in Delhi. That there is a yahoo group also. That yahoo group told me about the website of Indian Railway Fan Club, seems like very good, but I still have to explore it well. That gentleman from B'lore is devoting 2-3 hours daily to revive the old engines, the models which are kind of 100 years old. He mentioned, that there are 10-12 volunteers, who are planning to build a huge model railroad withing the next one year by contributing. It seems like fun and I hope to be back here soon.
There there were a couple of small steam engines running around, where we could buy ticket and sit in. So, we got tickets for ourselves and waited for the train to arrive at the station. It is a very small one, and it was definitely very enjoying ride for us and especially for Nanna. The joy train took a complete round of the museum, which has stations with benches where people can sit, tunnels, turns and all the fun. It was fun, and Nanna was jumping with joy. She wanted to sit in the train for some more time, but the line at the ticket window was very long, so I forgot that idea. And, we lunged towards the food court, a few tents serving the chat pakaudi etc. For next time, I will remember to buy 2-3 pair of tickets in one go for the train ride.
Then, there was a steam engine, which was I think 10 inches or so high, and was being driven by sitting on top of it, and could take only two small kids as its passengers. It was fantastic to see it running. Nanna was a little afraid so didn't ride it, but I will make sure the next time we go there, if its running, she sure takes a ride.
The biggest mistake of the day, we didn't take camera along with us for the day. Well, to take it in positive stride, we decided to be back here at the museum very soon, and this time with camera, so as to take back the beautiful memories.
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