IndiaPost.com - Library on wheels in Ludhiana villages

India Post News Service

When eleven-year old Mohini boards this caravan-like bus in her Gujjarwal village in interior Ludhiana, the purpose is not to get transported. For she is a book-lover, seeking a one hour get away, in the engaging company of three thousand plus books. The first of its kind in Punjab, it is a weekly bus, huge by even Punjabi standards.

With the luxury of squatting on the floor or just browsing through books, the mobile library arrived in the village courtesy Jaswant Singh- a US citizen. A PhD in library science from the Western Michigan University and Librarian in American schools for about three decades, Singh, 73 realized that the state would never establish public libraries.

Years of cajoling officers over the issue did not help. Ultimately he himself invested a whopping Rs 30 lakh into the venture modeled on the American book mobile concept. "In a democratic society, every child has a right to access knowledge without direct cost.

I don't see a reason why it should still remain a luxury for village folk," articulates Singh who lend books, free of cost. The initiative was started in his native village Jorahan, in 2003 with the aim of reviving the book culture in suburbs. Now the mobile library's popularity is reflected in the increased number of books issued to the villagers from 508 in 2004 to 6335 last year.

The giant bus negotiating through narrow village lanes is a strange sight. Casting Jaswant Singh's idea into reality involved great effort. Nobody was ready to make such a bus with racks and double decks.

After manufacture, it took two-years to work on the defects. Now it touches six villages- Gujjarwal, Jurahan, Rangoowal, Phallewal, Kalakh and Dhulkot, reaching out to 15,000 people.

The bus which has bookshelves instead of seats, goes from one village to another, stopping by for an hour for children to borrow books. Like Mohini, for almost all village kids, the bus is the sole library they have ever seen. The schools are devoid of such facilities and book collections are rare to find. Merely Sikh scriptures are what the printed word means for many.

"And there are imported books as well," says Mohini, who is astonished at UK printed books which have a dual language story in English and Punjabi. Anant Education and Rural Development Trust has been set-up by Singh in the memory of his late father, to fight illiteracy that pervades India. "For five months I stay in India and spend the rest of the time in US.

My friend Amarjeet Singh and other trust members run the show in my absence," iterates the retired librarian. Jaswant Singh was concerned to note that Punjab has only 17 public libraries as compared to 35,000 in West Bengal. He pledged to take up the issue with the government to remedy the situation.

He says this can only be done by enacting the Public Library Act; otherwise Punjab will fail to benefit from the Knowledge Commission report which identifies public library as significant element of knowledge economy.

Singh's noisy and vivacious project contradicts the idea of a silent and static reading room. Boasting of rare books, this fast moving vehicle is a tribute to the Swadeshi spirit of some courageous NRIs. (Similar contributions/ suggestions can be mailed at delhi@indiapost.com)