Book Fair Shenanigans -part 1 :)

 

       Preface: Yes, I'm aware that the bookfair was last month. Frankly I haven't been in the best of health lately and with everything happening, I decided to write this soon lest i forget 😅. Now, onto the actual post!!

                      On a typical Sunday afternoon,  My sister suddenly rushed into our living room and announced rather emphatically " Let's go to the Bookfair!" and cue, the nostalgic memories. I remembered going to the bookfair in YMCA for the first time as a teen, a family outing with my mom and sister, and then my mom's sister and her two daughters whom we grew up with. we got along well as the four of us are closer in age. It was an eclectic experience in itself and the vibe reminded us of the annual cultural fair (porutkaatchi)  at island grounds. We marveled at the sheer scale of the setup and tried to check out as many stalls as we could, only to end up exhausted with 2 rows still left. While our moms picked Tamil historical novels  , the four of us picked whatever we deemed interesting , and by interesting I mean the books with an enticing cover 😜. Those were the simpler times when we didn't overthink things. Although our legs went almost numb, we went to sleep absolutely giddy with our book haul. 

a stock pic :)

                        Since then, we've tried to go every year and mostly succeeded, but then the pandemic happened and a few other things and we hadn't gone for 4 years at this point. And so it was decided that My sister and I would go without our parents who decided to rest and we were allowed to take bumblebee, to be driven by my sis, the licensed driver. we set out at about 4.30 PM , but not before our dad put in a word of caution which he knew would be useless anyway "Don't spend a lot!". Well... Knowledge is power, Father. The Traffic was alright initially but as we approached the venue, we felt it getting tightly packed into a bottleneck prompting us to navigate carefully. 

         Being the weekend, there was of course, a burgeoning crowd, with proportionate vehicles. We just followed  them lined up in a single file along the walkway which was dotted with people  crossing to and fro. We found ourselves in the middle of an innova and a fortuner (this is relevant). The pathway then opened into a huge playground which  doubled up as a car parking. We couldn't decide which spot to park so my sis veered the car away, as to not block other cars. By this time, the fortuner had caught up to us and then the innova and the fortuner pulled into the same row at the same time, side by side from opposite directions! To say my sis and I were smitten would be an understatement. We were inspired to work hard on our driving so we could do such cool manoeuvres effortlessly too. After parking our car in the second row, we wondered about the alignment which seemed okay but we were unconvinced, which prompted the driver of the car next to us to reassure "its all right. go on". okay then. :)

         We checked out the handicrafts exhibit next to main entrance first. A majestic Thiruvalluvar statue sat at the threshold which had become a crowd favorite photo spot. The "budget" our dad had allocated us already went bust at this point. onto the book fair, we surveyed the stalls broadly and checked out those that interested us. We spotted Actor Charlie and Nakeeran (of the magazine) who were of course circled by fans. Halfway through our book haul, my sis draws my attention to a Japanese stall. I was excited and immediately rushed towards it , while my sis seemed hesitant and opted to hover around. 

from our book haul :) highly recommend!

          The stall was manned by japanese nationals , with 3 of them clad in Tamil traditonal attire , 2 in veshti and the only lady in a sari 😄  with one Tamil guy. They spoke english fluently and I leant that all the books in that stall had a single author?!-  supposedly a spiritual leader back in Japan. I wanted to learn about Japanese philosophy and spiritualism in general so listened intently to the recommendations by the elderly man in a black T shirt. On trying to pay for the book i chose, i mistyped the price by accident which he promptly pointed out and in a moment of panic also to show sincerity , i blurted out "Gomen nasai" (im sorry). On hearing this he was visibly happy and asked excitedly "nihongo o dekimasitaka?" (do u happen to know japanese). How he even guessed that by just hearing 2 words is beyond me. Flustered, I reply "chotto dekimas"(i know a little). I hadn't planned on having an actual conversation at all.  He was encouraging though. "ah.Benkyoshitendesune"  (oh so you have been learning). me : "hai. N5 level. im going to write JLPT.  " , switching back to english.

            At this point he he asked the young cashier to stop writing my receipt and announced to the entire stall  about my.... Japanese capabilities?! No sooner had he done that i feel more pairs of curious eyes on me. Increasingly flustered i admit that I've been learning at the N5 level (beginner) looking around in a general direction not meeting anyone's eyes.  Now the sweet lady asks me ,enunciating each word ,takai desne? (isnt it expensive?) to which i reply in the negative, still staying around the elderly man. Sensing my reluctance he switches back to english and asks me about my reason to learn japanese. I answer him truthfully about how anime was the entry point - showing him and the others who were intently listening in, my gojo phonecase  with no shame whatsoever  and that I gradually become interested in Japanese philosophy and culture. He translates the same to others and this is met with vocal approval. Then the cashier resumes the receipt writing as directed with the discounted price , a pleasant surprise.💖

The one and only Gojo Satoru 💖