The interest centred around the man is almost unbelievable in India and his remarks_ even those made at private functions_ are the stuff that newsmen wait for days to make hard copy. Obviously, such a titan's autobiography makes sense to publish and the National Book Agency, with active support from the CPI(M) mouthpiece ``Ganashakti,''

has done a singular service for historians as well as the lay reader in coming out with the chief minister's first English autobiography, ``Memoirs : A Political Autobiography,'' on the inaugural day of the Book Fair. Mr Basu was present during the release.

The paperback, which has been translated from the original Bengali, ``Jatadur Mone Pore" by Calcutta-based journalist Abhijit Dasgupta, spans the chief minister's political life spread over six decades and has many interesting anecdotes , making it into a virtual treasure trove and priceless document of the growth of the Communist movement in India. Also, the Bengali original has been vastly updated with the chief minister adding nine more chapters pertaining to the assumption of office by the BJP, the Pokhran blasts, the death of EMS Namboodiripad and the 16<sup>th</sup> CPI(M) congress which was held in Calcutta in October 1998. For those who have had only a brushing acquaintance with the phenomenon called Jyoti Basu, ``Memoirs'' should be the just the right beginning to make.

The Book Fair also saw the release of Bengal's home minister, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharya's thesis on author Manik Bandopadhyay, ``Purey Jaye Jiban Nashwar.'' Mr Bhattacharya, as is widely known, is no mean writer and his stentorian attitude towards his official work can only be matched by the fluidity of both his prose and verse. The minister spends long hours with books himself and this document on a celebrated giant of Bengali literature only proves that those who hide behind the veneer of work to give culture the go-by in life are simply fools living in a paradise of their own. The efforts that have gone into the compilation of ``Purey Jaye'' should be a an education in what a politician can do to contribute to the world of literature.