Couples turn book fair into Valentine’s Day tryst

Couples in colourful dresses and holding hands were a common sight at the Ekushey Book Fair on Sunday, which happened to be the Valentine’s Day.

On February 14, people around the world spend time with each other and exchange presents on Valentine’s Day. Bangladesh also celebrates the day in its own way.

Young men and women were seen all day with their loved ones, strolling around Ramna Park, Suhrawardy Udyan and the Dhaka University campus.

A good part of the couples spent the day browsing over books at the Ekushey Book Fair.

Many bought books to give them as Valentine’s Day presents to their beloved ones.

The colours of the previous day, which had been the first day of the Bengali month of Falgun, had carried over into Valentine’s Day. Many at the fair premises wore red and green or yellow, with flower garlands wrapped around their hair or wrists.

Separate entrances for men and women made lovers leave each other’s hands, but only until they had got past the entrance.

Many couples that are not used to going out together took special time off to come to the fair on Sunday.

'Zakaria', a sales representative at a pharmaceutical company who had come to the fair with his wife said, “Normally we do not go out together. But today is Valentine's Day."

Harun Or Rashid, a Sheikh Borhan Uddin Post Graduate College student, was at the fair with his girl-friend. He said they had been celebrating Valentine's Day this way for the last three years.

“We come to the fair in the afternoon. We give each other books. That is how we celebrate."

Book publishers were happy to note that more books than usual were sold on Valentine's Day.

As if to complete the Valentine's Day mood, a book by Dhaka University's Mass Communication and Journalism teacher Samia Rahman was launched in the afternoon in the Bangla Academy.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, who was the chief guest at the occasion, said, "If you believe in democracy, you have to believe in the freedom of the press. The role of politicians in building democracy is sometimes weak and other times strong.

"But the media are always strong. Politicians make mistakes, but the media cannot be wrong."