Giving life to library movement

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 5

The January edition of quarterly Punjabi magazine Ekam, published by city-based poet and writer Artinder Sandhu, introduces readers to a dedicated passionate book lover Chintambi from Kerala.

The 73-year-old general store owner of Idukki district in Kerala runs a small library in the middle of nowhere. He sources his books from donors and volunteers who visit his shop, occasionally offering free tea or snacks as a gesture. “People from surrounding villages walk for 18 miles to read books in that small library space that he has created. The work such people are doing to promote reading is amazing. It inspires people like us to chip in with our efforts as well,” shares Artinder Sandhu. The renowned poet and writer has initiated a similar project in collaboration with Delhi Sahit Sabha to support and provide literary infrastructure to over 200 private-run libraries in the region.

Sandhu, along with other prominent writers and publishers, donate magazines and books to the libraries as per their requirement.

“Most of these libraries are being run by individual efforts and in rural or border belts where otherwise access to literature is difficult. The initiative facilitates these library patrons to get literary magazines, including Ekam, and invite readers from nearby areas, especially children,” she says. The project is being funded mostly by Delhi Sahit Sabha and supported by several eminent Punjabi writers.

Fourteen such libraries running in individual capacity are being supported under this project. Four of them are in Gurdaspur and 29 in Ludhiana. “We also give books to one library in Jammu and Kashmir that is being run by a young academician. Sandhu says that such initiatives spell good news for promotion of Punjabi literature and literature otherwise. “Since the state-run libraries are in a shambles and on the verge of being shut down, the individual supported libraries become important medium to reach out to potential readers.

A student in Moga district is running a small library in his village with initial amount of Rs 13,000 that he collected through donations. He asked for literary books as a contribution from us and we obliged happily as it sets a positive precedent for the future of libraries in the state.”