A community library programme is hosting a virtual festival, including an auction, workshops and a concert, to raise funds and further the conversation on books for everyone
TCLP director Mridula Koshy with members of the library
When children think and are aware of themselves as thinkers, they are healthier," believes Mridula Koshy, founder-director, The Community Library Project (TCLP), a non-profit which runs four free libraries in Delhi and Gurugram hooked to the belief that 'reading is thinking'. Having been born out of a small reading programme and growing to cater to 4,000 members, TCLP is now hosting the first edition of its online Free Library Festival (FLF) to keep up the momentum of a free library movement in India.
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Aditi Mittal
Koshy tells us that FLF is not just an attempt to raise funds for TCLP, but also an attempt to create a demand for free libraries. "A lot of times, the possibility of free libraries is written off by saying that today, people don't read. Who are these people? The term describes only a handful. A large number of working-class children are not part of this 'people', as they don't have access to good, free public libraries," she explains. Koshy elaborates that the free library movement is a call for the creation of public libraries that are open to all, and where everyone is equal. "To create that system, we need to understand what has stopped us from doing so. One reason is the caste system, which continues to deprive people of access to education. And there's the long colonial legacy of an education system that was offered to a few, and is geared to teach people how to do bureaucratic work," she says, adding that this kind of education doesn't encourage reading as thinking.
Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan will host workshops
FLF was thus prompted by an urge to engage with the society. It kicked off this weekend with an online auction comprising one-of-a-kind memorabilia donated by Vidya Balan, Abhishek Bachchan and Gulzar, among others. Also on the cards are workshops including one on Hindustani classical music by Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan; poetry by Michael Creighton; non-fiction writing by Annie Zaidi; and how kids can weave their own stories by Jack Gantos. "Aditi Mittal will host the concert on the final day. It's a mix of live and pre-recorded performances by Rahul Ram, Varun Grover, Sonali Kulkarni, Danish Husain, and two budding rappers from our library, among others," the writer informs us.
Jack Gantos and Annie Zaidi
Koshy shares that it's been wonderful to see writers and artistes embrace the free library movement. "Writers are writing books as they want to engage in thinking about the kind of society we live in. If it doesn't get read, then they're agonising alone." She adds that if these books are in shiny bookstores, then the child accompanying the person who might be cleaning it, concludes that this - reading - is not for them. The movement aims to break these barriers, and that's something we could all be part of, isn't it?
On: Auction is live; workshops and concert on December 19 and 20
Log on to: linktr.ee/tclpfreelibraryfestival or TCLP's page on Facebook or Instagram
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