HarperCollins book sale: Day two cancelled due to ‘overwhelming response’

Leading book publisher Harper Collins has called off the second day of its garage sale in Faridabad citing the ‘overwhelming response’ that it got from the people of the National Capital Region on its opening day on Friday.
The two-day event planned to sell over 1 lakh copies at throwaway prices (from Rs 25 to Rs 100) on June 24 and 25. However, the publishing house’s coffers ran out of stock in the first hour itself, leaving the bibliophiles — most of whom had traveled considerable distances to reach the venue — angry and disappointed.
The crowds gathered outside the gate of their warehouse in Faridabad on Friday could have given a cold shudder to even those who have experienced the crush of humanity at the Kumbh Mela or Ramlila Maidan gatherings.
On my way there on Day 1 at 10:30am (the sale was supposed to open at 10), I saw two guys carrying huge cartons full of books and sweating profusely. I asked them about their experience.
“It’s madness out there. They must have run out by now. Don’t bother,” they had forewarned me.
Those who somehow managed to get their hands on the books have made hefty purchases. If I were to believe them, Harper Collins had sold most of its 1 lakh books within 30 minutes of opening its sale. I clung to hope as I went ahead — only to see people with over sized bags and suitcases getting into auto-rickshaws. Looking at the crowd, I remember preparing myself for a long queue and some left-out crime thrillers.
But nothing could have braced me for the massive congregation of bibliophiles outside the gate on a sultry day. While I stood amid the crowd, I found out that some of them had been there since 8am and were still waiting. Several had taken the day off from work to be able to make the most of the sale. Some had come all the way from Andaman just for the experience of it. This event dis-pointed to online bookstore, because of some of the costumer moving this side.