Book Expo- TEDx Diaries

TEDx Stories

I believed that books can be the best gifts.

Meghana came up with the idea of gifting books as gifts. Vineeth voted for it.

It was during december 2016, at the Akshara bookstore, Meghana decided to continue gifting books. Besides gifting, she came up with an idea of Book Expo.

It seemed an interesting idea. No sooner, she shared the idea, we discussed on how to execute the idea. As time went by, we looked at every possible opportunity.

As time passed by, the idea was put at bay, focusing on many important things. We thought of an idea where people can pick up the book and gift others. With the high chances of people missing the gift, we discarded the idea.

The team came up with lot of plans and finally decided to pick up the book whichever they like. We wanted to put the best in the expo.

Now, the best of all can be the worst of someone. We decided to go with the near and dear’s favorite and asked everyone to make their favorite list of books. I asked a few of my friends including Harimohan.  We pooled all the favorites and the team picked up 100 books that have to be bought.

It included fiction, non- fiction, poetry, biographies, auto biographies and many more.  We also picked the 100 keeping the budget constraints in mind.

Amazon.in was considered to be the best place to buy the books but, still, we tried our luck at Abids and Koti, the famous place to scout for books. One night, Ved and I successfully failed in buying books at Abids after visiting many bookstores.

After a few attempts, it was the team’s decision to buy books at amazon.  It was heartening to see the books placed as beautiful monuments. Every book seemed special in its own way.

Shreya announced to pick a book for themselves. People were shocked, surprised. They didn’t understand what she meant.

Attendees started enquiring volunteers about the announcement.

“Is it for sale?”

“No!”

“Is it an exchange?”

“No!”

“It’s for you! Take a book and have a good time.”

People loved the expo. And we received an immense response to this idea. I remember CK sir doubting if the books were for a sale or a giveaway.

Many people couldn’t believe that we were giving away new books to the audience. They have a choice. They can pick it up and take it. Very simple.

People didn’t expect brand new books for give aways. Everyone loved it.

Prashant Dhawan picked up, “Inner Engineering” by Sadhguru. Carolyn picked up, “Eat. Pray. Love” Amulya picked up, “Krishna's key”

Book expo turned out to be the best thing at the event. Cheers to Meghana for the fabulous idea. And cheers to the team for executing it in a brilliant way.