A library is a sacred place that one starts feeling like contributing to the place. This is true for those who have been blessed with a good relationship with the Library. This might be a memory from the school days or the college life, Library remains something 'very own'.
The forgotten art of Reading also blames the Lost Library Love and has been haunting us through various downfalls in the learning system.
We do not see children in good numbers in the libraries anymore. The schools and even colleges have ended up making the libraries mere reading rooms for the 'examinations'. I do remember the first exposure to Library in my school days when our beloved Sanskrit Teacher (and the Government Senior Secondary School, Ratia's Library Incharge) Sh. Kishori Lal Sharma, handing over random books to us. Most of the times he would hand over the books and asked us to keep it forever. His act looked like one from a benevolent king who knows the worth of the treasure he has with him.
The Library came to be the best of friends again in College Life when the Khalsa Tri-Centenary Government College, Ratia got its own Library because of the revolutionary and dedicated Principal Sh. J.D. Dehra. I remember him going to a closing Polytechnic campus to 'grab' the library stocks for our college. We three (Suresh, A Singh Saab and I) waited till the next day as if some Fairy is coming into our lives to make everything look live heavens. He got back with loads of books and cupboards in a truck. We took the piles in laps and shoulders and did the work of establishing the Library on the first floor. Each book was touched and placed in the almirah that we took with seating hands and exhausted selves. BUT that was the most rewarding moment in life when I felt like knowing each particle of the Book Home. I knew each book and could easily guide anyone, particularly English and Hindi Literature within a few seconds.
I read! I read a lot and that made me a better learner than a student of graduation. That thing kept itself alive throughout the journey to a career in Teaching and Educational Intervention. Today when I boast of being aware of some nuances of Reading, Literature, Behaviour, Skills and Languages; that is all because of the Libraries I got in my life.
Today, Swati (Co-founder of EklavyaParv thought) initiated a very impactful Library Activity that has impressed me a lot about the ways and ideas that are needed to make Library an 'Interesting thing' that attracts people. The Library Treasure Hunt was planned, conducted and taken to a fruitful outcome by her. The ideas were 'Know Your Library' and the students were asked to just 'Find the Treasure'. They went through the books and tried talking to them with silence. The children were running from one rack to another to FIND the book they wanted. The suggested listing was meaningful enough to teach them (unknowingly) what is there in the books.
Both of us have settled the Library as a home of our own dreams and aspirations. We want each kid to Learn and Live; in fact, Live to Learn. Refreshing the Library of the School and Opening it with a meaningful agenda is something that may go a long way. There has been no tiring or hesitation in doing any work that gets the library going the right way. At TERii Kurukshetra, both of us are adding to the institutional efforts of value addition.
The Treasure Hunt idea is quite simple. You give a List of Books to the teams, and allow them to sniff around with eyes and make the collection.
This Simple and Small idea may do wonders if somehow we get successful in breaking the Mental Block of NOT READING. Humans are prone to fall in love with Reading. we are just giving that belief a ground to get going. we are assured that we will be able to develop another EklavyaParv dream into reality-
Back to Books! Back to Reading! Back to Life!
