Kolkata's love for books is no secret to the world. The city is home to College Street- a 900-meter-long street in Central Kolkata that is considered the largest book-selling market in the country. If you visit College street, you will find hundreds and thousands of people (across ages) swarming the bookstores, buying or reading different types of books in different languages. To preserve this book reading habit, a couple in Kolkata took up a heart-warming initiative and opened a free street library with their personal collection. They collaborated with a grocery store in a place called Patuli in Kolkata and converted an old refrigerator into a bookshelf to set their book collection.
The news was shared on Twitter from an account named @VisionHistory. According to the handle, similar initiatives have been taken by several grocery stores in the Southern part of Kolkata. Sharing snaps of few such free street libraries, it wrote, "Few kirana store owners in #Kolkata have now opened a street library in South Kolkata where one can borrow a book for a month for free!!! An old fridge & a bookshelf in the store are all they have now. Love and respect for their initiative."
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Few kirana store owners in #Kolkata have now opened a street library in South Kolkata where one can borrow a book for a month for free!!!
An old fridge & a bookshelf in the store are all they have now.
Love and respect for their initiative ???????? pic.twitter.com/CJGjMI3pct— AncientHistory (@VisionHistory) March 30, 2021
The fridge-turned-bookshelf has a board attached to it that states, besides lending and reading the books for free, one can also contribute old books for the noble cause. The board further reads, "A Book A Month Keeps The Doctor Away." According to the shared images, this initiative of converting the fridge into a free street library is taken by Kalidas and Kumkum Halder and grocery store owner Tarapada Kahar.
The post by @VisionHistory impressed several Twitter users, who reacted to the post saying, "Very encouraging.....hope other localities will follow this soon......" Another person wrote, "So proud to be a Kolkatan! Definitely need more such initiatives!" "Reader's delight..." a comment read.
About Somdatta SahaExplorer- this is what Somdatta likes to call herself. Be it in terms of food, people or places, all she craves for is to know the unknown. A simple aglio olio pasta or daal-chawal and a good movie can make her day.