How this Bandra East community library is helping Bharat Nagar's kids think beyond the textbook

Book pouches have been hung up on the walls to save space

Eleventh grade student Alsaba Khan can't stop gushing about her latest read - Girls Also Want Azadi, penned by iconic feminist figure, the late Kamla Bhasin. Khan is a resident of Bharat Nagar in Bandra East, an often-ignored slum settlement tucked away behind the manicured fringes of the glitzy Bandra Kurla Complex. After a second of careful consideration, she declares the title - which reminds girls to demand azadi to just be - as one of her favourites at the Red Boys Foundation's 300-sq ft library. Her classmate, a chirpy Sanjana Yadav finds The Laddoo Code, a useful read. "We've been using the code words in the book to chat among ourselves," she giggles, before joining her friends to name a dozen other titles that caught their fancy at the nearly-three-month-old library.

A loft in the room hosts a treehouse-style reading nook. Pics/Shadab Khan

Stocked with 300 odd books, new and pre-loved, the library is housed inside Pathshala Educational Trust, run by the non-profit above its office space. Throughout the week, a steady stream of around 150 children visit the space, which doubles up as a community resource centre, smoothly clambering up and down its rusty, old 90-degree iron ladder. The foundation is the initiative of a group of friends who came together in 2007 to give back to their neighbourhood. The team works to address education, women's empowerment, drug abuse, menstrual health, and civic issues, among other concerns. "We set up the centre in 2019 to address dropout rates. It's equipped with WiFi and a projector, which came in handy during the lockdown when classrooms moved online. We conduct study sessions for classes five to 12," shares trustee Nilofer Jailor.

The library doubles up as an education centre for students to study

Among the volunteers who help out with campaigns and classes is Bandra-based Kripa Bhatia. While discussing how two years of online classes have distanced kids from the habit of reading, Bhatia suggested starting a library. Since June, the library has gathered 250 new books and 165 pre-loved titles sourced from Art1st, Pratham Books, The People Place Project and various other entities. With rows of benches, a small teaching podium, a giant projector, a stack of trophies, boxes and a washroom already occupying much of the space, they have set up wooden wall shelves and hanging pouches to stack the books.

Co-founder Shahnawaz Moosa Shaikh, Nilofer Jailor and founder Zakir Khan

Titles such as People Called Mumbai, Art is a Verb, Not Just a Witch, A Vision of India: The Country, Ismat's Eid, accompany Plato and Nancy Drew on the shelves. "We plan to fill the room with book pouches. We curated the books according to the reading and concept levels of the kids," shares the artist who plans to set up libraries at nine other community centres.

Not just pouches; the lack of space has led to a cool spin on an otherwise-redundant loft in the classroom. A few cushions, some plastic shelves, a beanbag, a guitar, a fresh lick of paint and a hanging rope ladder - and voila, visiting Austrian architect Martina Spies turned the loft into a cosy reading nook. As the boys raced up the rope ladder to settle into the beanbag on the loft, this writer was tempted to follow suit. "The students can read there quietly, and also study by themselves," shares co-founder Shahnawaz Moosa Shaikh. A chatty Kaynath Sayyed is quick to remind us that she and her friends haven't come across books or a space like this before. "I like the Hindi books but I am also exploring English and Urdu ones."

On Sundays, which are library days, the library is open to all kids, not just the ones who study there. "We plan to catalogue the books. The idea is to start a free lending programme for all once we get a computer. But we need funds to help us out. We hope that we will find a way," Shahnawaz notes. Mumbai, are you listening?

At Plot 2, room 113, Bharat Nagar, Bandra East; 9 am to 8 pm
Call 9594123007
Log on to @redboysfoundation