Born in the pandemic, these libraries in Bengal run with meagre resources but get people reading
One of them is in Kolkata, and the other, in a village. Both were set up to keep schoolchildren amidst books. A class in progress at the Ashina Gramin Library.
The distance between the posh neighbourhood of Patuli in Kolkata and the dusty meandering roads of Ashina village is over 50 kilometres. The villagers of Ashina most likely have never seen the towering housing complexes near the Satyajit Ray Park in Patuli. Similarly, most of the residents of Patuli may have never set foot near Ashina.