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Journalism of Courage
The residents of Raichur, which is located in northern Karnataka, hesitate to step out of their homes during daytime in the summer months owing to the oppressive heat. The mercury in this region of Karnataka neighbouring Andhra Pradesh often crosses the 40-degree-Celsius mark. Like much of the adult population, children, too, stay homebound and, in the process, become addicted to smartphones. Therefore, an engineer has devised a way to help children overcome the addiction and also pick up the habit of reading books.
Rangarao Desai, an engineer with a Bengaluru-based firm, has given children the offer to read a book within an hour and win prizes.
“I came up with a plan to prevent mobile addiction. We renovated a building owned by my family and stacked it with books. The books are basically brief accounts of the lives of famous personalities and generally do not cross 50 pages. So, I told children that they can take away a gift if they succeed in reading 50 pages within an hour. We have kept tennis balls, kites, chocolates, caps and many other gifts at the centre,” he said.
In a day, the library is visited by over 40 students but only 20 schoolchildren are allowed to study there at a time given space constraints, Desai said. “During my childhood, many people helped me to study. Now, I am trying to help others,” he added.
Desai returned to his native place from Bengaluru during the Covid-19 pandemic as he got the opportunity to work from home. He set up the library during April-May this year. According to him, most students who come to his library belong to economically weaker sections. “In many cases, their parents leave for work early in the morning and they are alone at home. Some of them play games on mobile phones to spend time and this library has helped them to cut down on mobile addiction. Many of them started reading to win prizes but now they have developed an interest in reading books,” he said.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Class VIII student Eshwar, whose father is a driver, said: “When I heard about the offer, I just came here out of curiosity. But now I love reading these books. I love to spend my weekends here. I won a cap for reading a book within an hour.”
Class IX student Asha, who aspires to become an IAS officer, said the books have kept her away from the mobile phone. Daughter of a mason, Asha said, “Here we have fans and they help us beat the heat. The books are also inspiring. I thought only I was struggling in life because of lack of facilities, but the books have taught me that many famous personalities overcame much more hurdles in life. These books instill hope.”
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