Books on wheels

The library covers 20 to 30 kms daily

With the variety of streaming services, apps and other Internet platforms available to most readers, many would have moved away from accessing physical books. While many urban dwellers who have easy accessibility to such digital resources often take the gift of reading for granted, the reality for those in many interior regions is different. Identifying the need for this reading habit to be reinstated, especially in non-urban settings, Let's Read India began their mobile library initiative last year.

Founder, Prafulla Wankhede, along with his team of nine, began a library on wheels in September 2020. "I had travelled to Europe for work where I saw many such mobile library initiatives. When I came back and asked around, I realised that in India there were no such genuine schemes. So we formed a team around two years ago and decided to get this rolling by forming a GPS management system, while also keeping in mind what each demographic might like to read", says Wankhede.

Borrowing a book comes with only one condition - the borrower who can be of any age, must submit a 300-360-word review of the book after reading it, and is then permitted to pick up another one. Through this review system, by the time the book reaches the tenth person, because of the previous reviews, that person can determine whether they would actually like to read the book or not.

The reviews can be written on paper or submitted online through their website or through a thread on Twitter, tagging their account. "This system helped us gauge the type of books readers tend to gravitate to. We have a young reader who has been routinely borrowing from us for the past eight months, and I feel he might've exhausted the science-related section. It's a joy for us to see these kids sit down, read and learn. Most books in libraries catch dust, so we felt, why not have such libraries that bring books to people to encourage them to get into it. It's brought about a lot of positivity in my life as well" he adds. The mobile library covers around 20 to 60 kms a day, and for those who wish to donate books to the library, they can get in touch by calling their office, visiting their website or dropping them a tweet.

The group has plans of expanding its initiative across the country. "We do have plans of moving to other places as well but the lockdown has made it a tad difficult to navigate. For now, we're bound to Navi Mumbai, Raigad and a few other parts of Maharashtra. We hope to start a YouTube channel to educate people on this as well", Wankhede signs off.

Log on to: letsreadindia.com or @LetsReadIndia on Twitter