A reason to rejoice greeted the bibliophiles of the Bhubaneswar city when a city-based social organisation opened a library in an abandoned bus.
Bakul Foundation, which made this library happen, named the bus, 'Bakul Library' that now stands parked at the Kala Bhoomi, near Pokhariput in Bhubaneswar.
As per reports, the bus belonged to the Odisha State Regional Transport Corporation (OSRTC) and after ferrying passengers for years, it was left abandoned at the depot.
As it happened, the Bakul foundation was also looking for a place to open a new library mainly for kids and teenagers around Khandagiri and Pokhariput area. They needed space for books, a roof over it and a place to sit and read. The abandoned OSRTC bus sparked an idea and presented an exact match for their requirement. They wasted no time and help was sought immediately from the authorities to transform the bus into a library.
The library on wheels has more than 4,000 books in all categories including fiction and non-fiction for all ages, but mainly for kids and teenagers.
Biswajeet Mohapatra, the Chief of Bakul Foundation who was also present in the bus during the inauguration on Sunday, said, "Though this area has a lot of schools, it lacked a public reading place and a library. When I came across the bus, I immediately decided to turn it into a library."
"Our organisation aims to make book reading a habit of people. So we try to come up with unique ideas so that more and more readers can get attracted to the books. We have stocked up 4000 books for now. If we witness demand from the readers we will bring in more books later," Mohapatra added.
A student who was seen reading a fiction in the library said, "They have a good collection of books, especially for children. I am happy that such a library has been opened in our area."
"This is a very good initiative by Bakul Foundation. I am sure it will garner interest among readers. However, as readers we should donate books to this library to make it richer in terms of knowledge," said a visitor.
The library was made operational in collaboration with OSRTC, SIDAC and Odisha Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts Department and it is free for anybody with a penchant for reading.