International Book Fair – The Mega Event – This November

27th November – 6th December; it’s the 26th edition of Kottayam’s mega event : The Kottayam International Book Fair organized by Darsana Cultural Centre at Municipal Grounds, Nagampadom. Enjoyed by 2lakh+ people, the Kottayam International Book Fair is the oldest and the biggest book exhibition of the State.

  • 1985 : 30 Publishers, 1500+ titles, 3000+ visitors
  • 2008 : 200+ Publishers, 30k+ titles. 2.25 lacs visitors

As clear from this, all aspects of the book fair have been tremendously progressing edition by edition.

For the 10 fair days, Kottayam will be buzzing with book lovers from all districts of erstwhile Central Travancore. And the 10 awesome days will see all cultural leaders of the state in town, for the numerous programmes/meets as part of the fair.

Book fair, for the people of Kottayam, is not just another commercial fete. For many it’s nostalgic. Since this has been happening here for a long period of 25+ years, it is considered a part of Kottayam’s living and a happy time of the year. And this very emotional attachment with the fair is what makes it stand out and shine amidst the innumerable other events. The characteristic feature of the event is that, in India, it is the book fair visited by the largest number of families.

The charm of the book fair doesn’t die out with the event. It continues and every year, it’s rekindled. And this time, we’re here to celebrate it like never before. This is the first book fair for KP (KottayamPattanam) and we’re getting ready to absorb and reproduce the charm & splendour of the event, to the maximum detail possible.

Coming days will see more posts on the event. All posts about the event will carry the official tag – bookfair09

Butterfly Garden Opens, Kottayam Gets More Serene

Kottayam got something great to be proud of – a nice Butterfly Garden. It’s prepared & maintained to the right of the main entrance of the Kottayam Collectorate (Civil Station) and is always open to all (but the time between 10 am and 12 noon is the best time to sight butterflies).

Butterfly Garden is not something new, but the one we just got at Kottayam is indeed unique; it’s the only open-environment butterfly garden in the World that’s situated at a busy urban area (Note that the place is so close to the always busy K.K. Road (N.H. 220)). It is called ‘open-environment’ because the butterflies are NOT put inside some cages or walls. Then how does it work, you ask.

In the specially maintained area, the minds behind this great venture – Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences – have planted and nourished those plants and shrubs, which play important roles in the life cycle of butterflies. And yes, the butterflies come automagically!

The butterfly garden was inaugurated by Hon’ble District Collector, Mrs. Mini Antony on 31st October, 2009. The garden is built & maintained by the Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences led by Dr. Punnen Kurian (Zoology lecturer, St. Mary’s College, Manarcadu).

Periodic awareness and demo sessions will be arranged at the garden. School students are the main target audience, since they are mainly the ones who need to understand and love nature. The idea of a butterfly garden is expected to spread wide, with gardens being built in school & college campuses and public sector institutions.

We were present there for the inaugural event, and here are the photos, followed by a short video clip.











Video clip shot minutes before the garden was inaugurated

If you haven’t visited the place, we urge you to make a visit and give a green salute to our beautiful ecosystem.