BANGALORE: Nothing compares to the feeling of holding a book in your hand and reading it in the comfort of your home while sipping some hot coffee on a rainy day. This simple feeling almost becomes a distant dream in today’s world where summaries of books are read over the internet and reading a book is more of a holiday activity than a regular day to day event. The Sanchari Library vehicle parked outside the Karnataka State Central Library promises to transport us to this distant dream where all you have to do is choose a book sitting at home.Set up by the then Chief Librarian, K G Venkatesh in 1983, this mobile library delivers books at your doorstep. Promoted by R S Desai in 1994, it has been travelling the length and breadth of the city delivering books to enthusiastic readers interested in reading the best in Kannada Literature.Forty one rupees is all you need to pay to come on board this library and a reader can issue three books at a time. One rupee to fill out the registration form and `40 as library deposit is a meagre amount when the library experience is brought really close to your doorstep.“We have chalked out a city travel plan where the library travels to 26 points in the city,” said John, the in-charge of this mobile initiative by the State Government. He says that there is good response from readers across the city who respond to a notice put up asking readers to come to a specified place to issue or return books.The library largely contains books in Kannada with some books in Tamil, Telugu and English as well. “We have been asked to maintain a ratio of 70:30 as per the government order,” said John.Who and where are the readers of Bangalore?Housewives in the city form the largest membership base of this mobile library. Most of them are avid readers of the different forms of Kannada literature like short stories, essays, writings by Kuvempu and so on.The mobile library is also well received in areas like Girinagar, J P Nagar 6th and 7th Phase and Banashankari in the six day week.
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