Journalism of Courage
The sports library at Adarshnagar has added extra sports equipment and books to cater to the increased demand by kids during the summer vacation
While eight-year-old Pooja Choudhury frequents this place for skating shoes,10-year-old Dev Basvekar is one of the regulars for basketball. And almost every weekend,one can spot teenager Ganesh Naik with a chessboard set. A sports library in Adarshnagar has become a hotspot for these kids and many others in the city. With the ongoing summer vacation,the footfall has increased manifold. So much so,that the organisation,Adarsh Mitra Mandal,which runs this library,had to add extra equipments and sports-related books.
Abhishek Singh,a 10-year-old,who studies at Kendriya Vidyalaya Army Area,confesses that its because of the library that he has developed an interest towards various sports like tennis,football and skating,whereas in the past,he would only play cricket.
Besides games,the library also offers books. Considering the rise in the demand,we have added an additional 500 books and some more sports tools, says Uday Jagtap,who initiated the concept of this sports library which was started last year in the city. The organisation spent around R 50,000 to start the library.
A new rule which has been recently introduced here is that to get a cricket set issued,the child has to come to the library with a team of 11. Jagtap feels that the rule will instill the habit of playing in a group. To get any sports good issued,the kids are required to give basic details like their name,address,mobile number and a reference. Jagtap does not deny that there have been instances when a few children did not return the sports equipment. Just because a handful of children did this,we cannot deprive the other 4000 odd children. In any case,we know that the children who did this,did it for their love for the sports and the equipment they could not afford,so its fine. They must be playing with it in some part of the city, he adds.
Elaborating as to why the organisation charges a meagre amount as the fee,Jagtap says,It is merely to inculcate the feeling in the children that nothing comes free of cost in this world and they should value each penny. The amount earned with the fee is donated to Mamta Foundation.
The library is open for two and a half hours every weekend. We attend to more than 60 children per day. In the past one year,more than 4500 kids have benefitted from it, adds Vishal Naik,who handles the library. The children who visit the library often are from city areas like Dhankawadi,Katraj,Bharti Vidyapeeth,Ambegaon,Bibvewadi,Sambhajinagar and Chandan Nagar.
