When distances are measured not in kilometers, but in cups of chai, you know you are in UP.
Now how many chais will it take you to finish exploring all the stalls at Gomti Book Festival 2025? I dare not guess.
While you think about that, “Tashreef rakhiye,” says the city, as the book festival turns the Lucknow University grounds into a wonderland for readers. Stalls brimming with stories, chai brewing in corners, and the rustle of pages that make you forget the world outside.
There’s joy in every lane; from the poetry corner to the shelves overflowing with books by Indian authors in GBF 2025. It’s like the city is saying, “Muskuraiye, aap Lucknow mein hain.”
With mythology and nationalism pulling the crowds, in one quiet aisle, a different kind of thrill is waiting. It is suspenseful, it is mysterious, it is gripping.
Among the familiar and the fantastical, sits the Indian mystery thriller – Love Swipe Blackmail. Not about gods or demons, but about the monsters we carry in our pockets; our phones, our secrets, our digital double lives. “Shanti banaye rakhiye, yeh Charbagh station nahin hai,” the stall owner teases, handing over a copy to a reader whose eyes already gleam with suspense.
So, whether you pick up poetry, history, or the pulse-racing twists of a thriller, one thing is certain – Gomti Book Fest reminds us that good stories never go out of fashion.
And for those who say, “Zyada hoshiyari mat dikhaiye… chacha vidhayak hain hamare!” I say this, that the real power in Lucknow this week belongs to the stories.
#KahaniHaiNaAmazing
