In times when e-reading with the Kindle and other gizmos is finding new fans every day, here is a book lover who has sold most of his furniture, even his bed, and now quite literally sleeps with books. Mumbai-based Pushpendra Pandya’s abiding love, for not just the written word but also the printed one, has led him to start a library by book lovers for book lovers.
“I have sold my double bed and furniture. We just have the basics at home now. I am not much into people... I refer to my books,” says the copywriter.
Pandya may prefer books to human company but his initiative to spread the joys of reading is aimed at people who share his love for books. His Crowdsourced Library (he doesn’t have a fixed name for it), which started about a month ago, has around 1,500 books that he has received from friends and an increasing number of well-wishers.
The man from Vasai had been swapping books with friends for several months before he realised this was an initiative that could go big. “I have met a lot of lonely people in the last six-seven years... people who read a lot. I thought that since there are so many readers, I could do something to help them,” he says.
The library works on a simple idea — if you have surplus books, you call or send a tweet to Pandya and he comes and collects the books (simultaneously keying in information about them).
He also checks the books for quality (he has refused a few ‘bad’ ones) and has a guy who can bind books if needed.
People can view the books available online and even swap the books they have in exchange for some from Pandya’s collection. There aren’t too many people who have signed up for the library yet, but Pandya’s collection of books is steadily increasing. “The response has been good,” says Pandya. “There are some who want to give just one or two books but then there are others who give me 350 books at a time.” In his experience, it’s the youth who don’t appear to be too keen to part with their books; they would rather swap. Older people, however, are more willing to share their books, and their time freely.
The mission is altruistic rather than entrepreneurial. Pandya has spent quite a bit of money travelling to different corners of the city, after work and on weekends, to collect bundles of books.
The books are kept at his house and at his friend’s residence in Thane. Sometimes he takes his car and at other times, struggles with his precious tomes on public transport. Pandya aspires to start similar initiatives across India (the one in Bangalore is up and running). He also wants to make the website more smartphone-friendly and interactive.
For now, however, he has his work cut out for him. “I want to have a bigger space, probably rent a shop somewhere and make it into a proper library.”
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