Magic of Libraries and Books
A famous adage says that “we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with”, the exact number could be debated but I think we all agree that we all are indeed influenced by the people around us. We all agree that the Environment around us, be it in the form of people, the experiences, the information, nature, the facilities, the opportunities have a big role to play in shaping and contributing to our personality, our growth, and our success.
That is the core reason why Libraries or such an environment filled with books is an important experience to be given to our kids.
I too didn’t realize the true magic the libraries have on kids till recently. One visit to a well-furnished library planted a seed of interest, in books in our daughter. Since then I started pondering deeper about the role these communal community spaces play in our lives.
In fact, I recollect that visiting a Library was part of the routine for many among my grandparents’ and parents’ generation. One of my grandfathers was sharing that “we were taken to library in our childhood when I was 8–9 yr old by our brothers ….we would read newspapers ..Hindu, Deccan chronicle some others in Urdu. MILAAP SIASAT ETC”. This was in the year of the 1940s in Telangana.
Both my parents, many uncles, and aunties used to visit libraries regularly to study for their exams or to read novels/newspapers/periodicals, during the 1960–the 70s in Telangana.
But something seems to have changed in modern times at present. I don’t see either my parents or relatives or the younger cousins and kids talking about Libraries or visiting them.
Due to our busy office hours, traffic jams, and distances to Libraries, the lifestyle of comfort we don’t seem to anymore have a Library Culture. One might ask “Why to take all the pain when content is in your hands reach in the form of a laptop or a phone or kindle?”
It is completely a fair point, when one is already struggling with time shortage, how can we create time to visit a physical library. (Though personally, for me, a Physical Library is not just a place with books, but has a much bigger potential for bringing the community together.)
This is how I think. Till the time we ourselves and our children get into the habit of focus and develop the ability to read without getting distracting to watch another youtube video or a Netflix or social media posts, we might need an environment that enables us to focus. Till we gain an internal control of our monkey mind whose decisions change and which gets easily distracted with the slightest random thought or disturbance, we might have to consider this idea of getting that motivation from external factors — A Physical Library.
Reading books or visiting Library is not the panacea to success. There are many other aspects a person needs to work on. However, it is one of the easiest and important means to become learned. Naval Ravikant puts it aptly
“The foundation of learning is reading. I don’t know a smart person who doesn’t read and read all the time.”-Naval Ravikant
Our kids’ future jobs are something not many of us can guarantee about. We can’t predict or train them for future jobs or let them know how it is going to be. What we can help them be is to be lifelong learners. We can help them be curious and to learn.
Kids constantly connect the things they learn anything to the things around them in the real world. So books give one such window of opportunity for them to learn and relate to.
One profound incident I am reminded of was one day when Leela hugged a cut tree. During those days, we were reading a book in which a small kid won’t let a tree be cut. He goes and hugs it to prevent it from being cut. One day Leela during our walks suddenly noticed a cut tree and hugged it. For a while, we didn’t understand. Later she related her act to the story and the kid.
“Reading Is To The Mind, What Exercise Is To The Body” — Joseph Addison
My 2 cents on what we can do?
1. Create a small library at home or in our apartment society
One of the readers, of my previous blogs, shared his experience which I felt was relevant here. He mentioned
“We were all readers at home. My parents and us too. There were books all around. Also, we used to have books for the kids. Don’t worry if the child doesn’t pick up a book. Let the books lie around. Soon they will pick up one.”- Anil Atluri
Ideally, like public parks, public transport the public libraries too should be widely accessible. However, that is not the reality around us. So maybe we can create small libraries in our homes.
One of my school friend’s daughter, Aditi, was gifted one book on a casual occasion. And that one book triggered in her the interest in books and reading. Noticing her interest in books her parents slowly built a library in their home.
For those of us who are living in larger gated communities or societies, we can all pool up our resources and contribute to building a small library. It could be in the extra rooms of our homes or in the community hall. We just need the will, some way could be figured out, like the below couple in Kolkata.
2. Make visiting Libraries part of our family rituals/routine
Most of our families have the habit of eating out or visiting a nearby mall or going on grocery shopping or visiting a temple or a relative.
How about adding a library visit to that list?
Maybe it can only once a week or once a month, whatever is convenient to the family. We can start somewhere and make it a conscious routine. I think it could be an exciting experience for them. Even if they don’t enjoy it, maybe we can keep trying by just taking them with the intent that we parents want to read. They could just loiter around and maybe like osmosis one day they will start liking it.
3. Bringing Libraries into our Conversations and Culture
This is a much longer-term goal. But personally, I feel a much-needed one. Unless we start today we won’t get there even in the next 10–20 years as a society. And in that time one whole generation would have lost an opportunity.
“When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American(Any) society has found one more way to destroy itself”– Isaac Asimov
It’s time we revive libraries(public/private), pay more visits. Understand the challenges and inconveniences there. They need more and more ideas. More support not just in terms of resources but also in terms of hope and belief. As one of the main reasons why we don’t visit Libraries is the quality with which they are maintained.
Our conversation about politics, sports, movies could make some space to include the latest books the nearest library is stocked up with.
Please do share your feedback and thoughts. More importantly, would love to hear
What is your earliest memory of a library?
What is that first book that you read, which left a lasting impression on you?
PS: The above blog is part of series of blogs I intend to write to spread awareness among my friends and others about the importance of books and libraries in a Child’s life. I am trying to raise funds to donate Children’s Books to at least 10 (earlier it was 4, due to good response we have increased the goal) Gram Panchayat Libraries. It will be great if you can contribute to this initiative. Thank You.
Link to donate: https://donateabook.org.in/campaign/raising-funds-for-libraries-in-gram-panchayats-of-udupi-district-of-karnataka/
Link to know more about this initiative: https://www.facebook.com/nandini.rabelli/posts/10159129247131221
