The readers’ tales

Libraries have always played a big role in nurturing the reader in us. The oldest library in Pune,which dates back to 1818,is The United Services Library,an amalgamation of the Poona Station Library and the United services of Western India Library. The library has the biggest collection of fiction books. An important activity of the library is the Book Club,which meets on the last Monday of each month. Needless to say,all members of the club are ardent book lovers. “It provides an informal platform for all book lovers to meet and have intellectual discussions,” says Satish Khot,president,National Society for Clean Cities,who has been associated with the club for the past seven years. Munir Chinoy is the president of the club.

The club caters to a wide age group,with the youngest,15-year-old Tanvi Jhadav and the oldest,Gladys Kothawala at 80. Infact,Kothawala,who has lost her sight,manages to get books read by someone else,to keep up with her love for books. The book put up for discussion this month was Outliers: The Story of Success,by Malcolm Gladwell. Anupama Oak took it forward for the evening. With her neatly arranged bookmarks at the relevant pages and her short notes,she took the listeners on to a new journey. “Its not the brightest who succeed”,she quoted Gladwell from the book,“…nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is,rather,a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

Suchitra Sonalkar,who is a homemaker,feels the author does not stress upon the importance of EQ (emotional quotient); his purview of discussion is limited to IQ. “While reading the book,sometimes we agree with the author,at other times we don’t.” But,Anupama concedes that the book is worth reading and is thought provoking.

Apart from books,the club also engages itself in play-reading. Sunita Shetty has been coming here for many years now. “It’s the wonderful bunch of people here whom I long to meet. Even if you don’t read books,you enjoy the discussions.” The members also discuss various issues ranging from the history of partition to women issues,education and economics,to mention just a few.

Stranger to History by Aatish Taseer would be the book up for discussion on April 28,6:00 pm,at the The United Services Library,Poona Club.