Wednesday 14 / May / 2025
Muscat: Thousands of people visited the 2019 Book Fest, which was organised by the Indian Social Club and the Embassy of India in Oman, in collaboration with Al Bhaj Books.
The event took place between April 24 and 27 and drew large crowds both from Indian nationals and people from other nationalities over the four-day period.
Organised by Indian Social Club Oman and Al Bhaj Books Oman, under the aegis of the Indian Embassy, this year’s Book Fest was inaugurated by Dr Mohammed Al Zubair, Advisor to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for Economic Planning Affairs.
The Embassy of India in Oman said, “Dr Mohammed Al Zubair, Advisor to His Majesty for Economic Planning Affairs, and an admirer of Gandhiji, inaugurated the 2019 Book Fest at the Indian Social Club Oman, organised as part of the commemoration of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji.”
Dr Sathish Nambiar, Chairman of the Indian Social Club Muscat, spoke about reading and how the habit must now compete with social media and computer games.
Reading habit
“There are more choices and variety in books than ever, but reading is slowly going out of fashion as a hobby. People are more interested in social media and computer games, so these exhibitions look to bring back the habit of reading,” he said
Dr Nambiar added that preparations for the event began six months ago with the agreement of the ministries in Oman.
“We have had to get permission from the Ministry of Information, while the Indian Social Club needed permission from the Ministry of Social Development,” he said.
In order to commemorate the event, there were more than 100 titles on Mahatma Gandhi at the event, which drew large crowds from India and other countries as well.
