Raahagiri Day witnesses its first ever bookathon!
Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 24:
In the age of smart phones, tablets, notebooks, Kindles and iPads, the romance of reading, buying and owning books seems to be dwindling. Instead of turning a page, it has become all about clicking, scrolling and swiping. To add a spark to the love of reading books, Bakul Foundation today organised a bookathon at Raahagiri Day today commemorating the World Book Day on 23rd April.
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Bakul laid out about 1000 books in English and Odia for all age groups to attract denizens of Bhubaneswar to spare time from technology and read books. Over 200 people participated and were seen flipping through pages, engrossed in their respective books.
“In association with the Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar Heritage, Bakul has been running a library along with activities such as storytelling at every Raahagiri Day, just for children. However, this time, keeping World Book Day in mind, we decided to include individuals of all age groups. Reading books is contagious. For example in a library, when you see many people huddled over books, you feel compelled to pick one yourself,” said Sujit Mahapatra, a volunteer of Bakul foundation.
Grandparents were seen reading with their grandchildren, parents were seen reading with kids, and children read sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Mythical characters and superheroes also could not resist the attraction of reading books. Lord Shri Ram in his costume was seen reading, the Ramayana with rapt attention. Dedi Loku, the green superhero, who has made Raahagiri his haunt every Sunday morning, also was found reading alongside Lord Shri Ram.
At the end, readers gave life to the Reading Tree as they pasted leaves onto the tree with their names and the names of the book they had read.
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