Two days to go for the 38^th annual Kolkata Book Fair, Milan Mela grounds smelled of fresh paint, plywood and anticipation. It’s like a city under construction. Frantic preparations are afoot to put in place one of the largest book fairs in the world, an important event in Calcutta’s winter calendar.

It must be said that the ten days of the book fair, along with the five-day autumn festival of Durga Puja, defines the spirit of the city—the “cultural capital of India”. This time, the book fair comes after two back-to-back literary festivals—Kolkata Literary Festival and the Kolkata Literary Meet and has also lined up a litfest of its own, the Kolkata Language and Literature Festival to be held as part of the fair. But nothing compares to the book fair, (I say this even though I am a litfest fan).

Here are some pictures of the run-up.

A riot of colours.

Busy hands and hammers.

Always the most sought-after.

Hear, Miss Adler,

I am SHARlocked!