A branch of one of India's biggest community libraries is a haven for bibliophiles, with an impressive selection of titles
There's a sense of calm when you step inside
a library that's hard to beat. Cars are honking ceaselessly on the roads. The
rare monsoon sun is beating down. The tumult of human population is growing
louder by the minute. But you leave all that behind as soon as you enter the
cool, serene confines of a library. The silent books stacked up neatly in
organised sections look therapeutic. The sombre librarian seems like a far cry
from all the people outside melting in the heat. And as you choose a title and
start leafing through the pages, you gently drift off into a different world
where the reality of daily existence is negated.
That's the sort of experience you get at the
JustBooks outlet in Andheri, the newest branch of one of India's biggest
community libraries to have opened in the city. It's located at the corner of a
peaceful bylane in Lokhandwala, at the far end of a line of shops. Large glass
doors reveal the promise of a literary escape from the chaos outside even
before you enter. Once in, a relaxed librarian, Jayanth Shetty, greets you and
tells you how the books are divided. There's non-fiction on the right, books
for teens in the near corner, regional titles in the far end, and fiction —
divided into sub-genres like romance, mystery and thrillers — on the left. The
selection spans close to 6,000 volumes, from detective stories like the ones in
Agatha Christie's novels to bestsellers like Omerta by Mario Puzo to more
contemporary titles like Lily Singh's How to be a Bawse. And each book is in
mint condition with a transparent cover that protects it from fraying, as it happens
sometimes with second-hand books.
The initiative started in Bengaluru in 2000.
That's where the head office is located and Saraswathi Sheshadri, who operates
the Lokhandwala outlet, tells us that there are over 60 branches across
Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. The reason it's called a community library,
she adds, is because if you log on to their website and ask for a particular
title, they will source it from any of their outlets across the four cities if
the branch closest to you doesn't have it. The membership plans are divided on
the basis of borrowing two, three or four books across a three-month, six-month
or yearly period. The cost fits every pocket and Sheshadri says that the people
who sign up range from five- to 91-year-olds, the age of their oldest member.
That last reason is also why she feels that
despite the emergence of the digital age — when e-books and audiobooks are in
direct competition with paperbacks — the concept of a library isn't even close
to dying out. Sheshadri tells us, "There has been a spurt in digital
mediums in the past few years, but a person who is an avid and passionate
reader will always come back to books. It's not just about reading, but also
about the feel and comfort that hard copies provide. And libraries help people
open up their imagination at a really young age. It's not just a logical bent
of mind that's necessary for a person to succeed in life. You also need to have
the ability to think creatively. I know of a school, for instance, that makes
reading a book mandatory for students for half an hour every day. The kids drop
everything they are doing and pick up a book in that period."
It's towards that end that the JustBooks
outlet she runs hosts informal book readings and workshops for kids as well, so
that the magical world of literature opens up to children. So, check the
library out or log on to their website because at the end of the day, the habit
of reading provides us with an escape route that gives us a breather in the
maddening lives we lead.
Find the title
JustBooks has three other outlets at Thane
(21730784), Mulund (21631439) and Nerul (27729788). Some of the titles that
caught our eye in the Lokhandwala branch are:
1. And Then There Were None by Agatha
Christie, the world's best-selling mystery novel.
2. Notes from a Small island, Bill Bryson's
humorous account of an American's life in England.
3. Roots, Alex Haley's moving account of a
black man's journey in America.
TIME 10 am to 8 pm (closed on Mondays)
AT Shop no 1, building no 1, ground floor,
CSL Block Sector, Shastri Nagar Lane 1, Andheri West
CALL 9152096999
Cost Rs 288 per month depending on the
plan you choose
Source | https://www.mid-day.com/
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