College Street in the heart of the City of Joy is ubiquitous to the city. Located in the bustling neighbourhood of Central Calcutta, it is a source of nostalgia to every one who has lived or worked in the city.
Famously known as Boipara (the book colony), College Street has been a cradle to the city’s intelligentsia and has not lost its old-world charm even in the age of notebooks, Kindles and iPads.
To give a fresh lease of hope to slump in sales through the COVID-19 and Cyclone Amphan crisis, 93.5 RED FM has collaborated with College Street Union and boiChoi.com for an on-air and digital book exhibition called ‘Book Kar’. Recently, due to cyclone Amphan, Kolkata’s iconic street or colony was severely affected with large scale inventories perishing.
To help the book sellers revive their lost business and bridge the gap between them and the readers and consumers, the two- week virtual book exhibition will aim at digitally bring College Street to the people. The collaboration will provide remaining books on BoiChoi.com, a book delivery site with a dedicated section to promote these reads. The radio jockey’s will be encouraging and requesting its listeners to support this cause through their on-air and digital shows.
Some of the renowned celebrities like music director-singer Anupam Roy and actress Ritabhari Chakraborty have plegded to support this campaign via digital book reading sessions and have shared their ‘boipara’ memories.
Speaking on the occasion, Nisha Narayanan, Director & COO, RED FM and Magic FM, said, “Due the recent cyclone Amphan, book sellers at Kolkata’s Boipara were one of the worst impacted, affecting livelihoods of more than a lakh people. In an endeavor to help revive this heritage of the city, our team decided to take this issue through an on-air and digital book exhibition called ‘BookKar’. It is a step towards bringing some hope to these book sellers.”
