Boi Mela is an emotion for me, says Puja Banerjee

On a cheerful Sunday afternoon, popular TV actress and Kolkata girl Puja Banerjee visited the 47th International Kolkata Book Fair. She had last visited the fair 15 years ago. Highlights from her walk down nostalgia lane and some adda over books and chai.

Garam cha & fish fry are must-haves
Food is an integral part of the fair and many people have objections regarding that. But if you get everything under a roof, it’s good, right? Having cha and fish fry at any fair is a must for me, so I didn’t miss that

Boi Mela is a paradise for bookworms. But I also love the bags, artefacts and achar which one gets here. All this was not there when we were kids. Now there are selfie zones too!

Lovely seeing young bookworms at the fair
I was an avid reader. During my childhood, I used to save money each month to buy books at boi mela. I like people who love to read. The younger generation is not so much into reading these days, but it’s so encouraging to see so many young bookaholics at one place. It gives me hope, makes me happy.

My father would always take us to the little magazine section and children’s pavilion first. All my Bengali books, especially Nonte Fonte, Handa Bhonda, Bantul The Great - were all bought from the fair

On loving the smell of books
I bought a few books for my son, my father and myself. No matter how many books you buy from a store, buying even a few from the boi mela is a different feeling altogether. The smell of a new book has its own charm.

I still remember the students of art college who used to sit and paint at the fair and they used to sing Bengali songs too. Once I even got a portrait done by them

On playing a cabaret dancer from the 70s on OTT
Recently I did a period drama for OTT titled Cabaret. It is set in Calcutta and other parts of Bengal during the 1960s and ‘70s and is an unconventional love story between cabaret dancer Miss Elina (played by me), and Naxalite militant Swarup. There are elements of contemporary radical politics, social hierarchy, class struggle and human relationships. I’ve longed for the chance to embody a character that’s entirely novel for me, presenting a fresh image to the audience. Moreover, my fondness for the retro style gets its canvas here, where I can craft it. The show stoked my interest in that era and I bought a few books on the subject.

Pics: Tathagata Ghosh and Anindya Saha