In a unique initiative, Satabdi Mishra and Akshaya Routray have been taking their Walking BookFairs’ all over the country to revive the dying art of reading: A report by Rashmi Rekha Das
“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.”
The famous quote from Renaissance essayist Francis Bacon underscores the value of reading books. This message was taken to the masses in Orissa by Dasarathi Pattnaik, popularly known as Dasia Aja, who dedicated his life to creating awareness about the importance of libraries. Considered the father of the library movement in Orissa, Dasia Aja saw books as reservoirs of priceless resources that facilitate self-education and play a vital role in the dissemination of knowledge and information.
However, the scenario is changing today. Amidst the popularity of television, movies, the Internet, and digital devices, the simple pleasure of reading a book seems almost quaint by comparison. Though print is not quite dead yet, serious book lovers are almost an endangered species in this technological age. According to surveys, books are dying as people are reading less. And there is no denying the fact that there are now more entertainment platforms than ever that have usurped the place of reading in our lives. Sunday POST meets bibliophiles Satabdi Mishra and Akshaya Routray, who launched ‘Walking BookFairs’ in 2014, to revive the habit of book reading among people. They want to promote the reading habit because there is much knowledge to be gained from a good book. As part of their ‘Read More, India’ tour, they covered 20 states including Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal apart from Orissa. They have travelled 25,000 kilometres so far and are still trying to reach as vast a spectrum of people as possible to encourage the reading of books.
The couple are business partners. They met at a bookstore and being book lovers themselves, they decided to help make books accessible to everyone, especially children. That is how they started Walking BookFairs. Satabdi was on a break from her job and Akshaya had quit his publishing job to set up an independent bookstore in Bhubaneswar when they launched Walking BookFairs. Now, the duo has set up a small book shack at Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar. Unlike most commercial bookstores, the book shack only has the basic necessities — a couple of benches and a beautiful garden. The duo allows readers to browse through the bookshelves, offering a 20% discount on every purchase throughout the year.
“It’s our love for books which motivated us to embark on a journey to make books accessible to every person in the country,” says Satabdi. “Apart from our love for books, we believe very strongly in our cause to reach out to more and more people everywhere to encourage them to start reading.”
“Thus, we undertook an all-India tour and travelled through 20 states with a mission to make books accessible to each and every person. We covered all 30 districts of Orissa with the books and travelled 10,000 km. We now conduct various interesting activities to encourage more people to read books and also to spread the joy of reading all around. We had authors coming over to our book displays and interacting with the people in public spaces. Thousands of people looked at books, held books in their hands and read them. This is the biggest achievement of our ‘Read More, India’ tour.
“Moreover, we as a society, for a long time, have not thought of ‘reading for pleasure’ as being important. We focus more on textbooks to get marks, degrees to get jobs in life, and to buy more things. But reading stories from all over the world is the best real education one can ever get. To understand the world around us, we need to read more books,” she adds.
Akshaya who is known as Akshaya Bahibala, feels the government has ignored the importance of reading. “You will find temples at every square. Now you will also get toilets thanks to the efforts of the state government. But, sorry to say, there are only a handful of bookshops in Bhubaneswar. At a time when the government is so concerned about the well-being of the common people, why has it not come up with the idea of setting up a library in every square? It will, no doubt, help people from every walk of life to spend quality time there.
“I am not talking about textbooks but literature. Though the government provides free textbooks, it should think about providing literature books to students so that they can expand their knowledge beyond textbooks. Literature festivals are being held in our states, but it is all about photo-ops at posh hotels. Literature, which reflects our society, has taken a backseat with students and intellectuals showing no interest. Though the government invests so much on education, not a single initiative has been taken to boost reading in Bhubaneswar. When this is the picture of our state capital, how can we expect libraries to come up in villages?”
Major publishers have supported the duo in their mission. Publishers like Harper Collins India, Pan MacMillan India, Parragon Books India, Speaking Tiger and Penguin supported their tour in terms of books.
Recounting the initial days, Satabdi says, “It all began at Semiliguda of Koraput district. We did not have the finances to hire a van for the purpose. We carried books in our backpacks and walked around villages, displaying the books in public spaces. We started displaying the books on the foothpath, at bus stops, under the trees and so on,so that the common man could see them, browse through them, hold and feel them, and also, if they want, buy at a discount. Our effort was lauded by all. Later, a few friends helped us get a second-hand van and we then travelled across the state, displaying books in small towns and villages. The initiative was a grand success — following which, we went on another ambitious tour called ‘Read More, India.’ And we covered 20 states across the country.”
“It is disappointing that Bhubaneswar’s population has crossed 10 lakh but it has only one state library. What is more saddening is that today’s youngsters spend a large amount of money to look good, but they don’t spend a single penny to groom their mind. They don’t have time for literary discussions. That’s not all. Orissa does not have a single bookstore where you can find the best 100 books in Oriya literature. Bookstores today sell only textbooks. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the physical library is dying out,” says Akshaya,who is also a poet.
Satabdi says they are delighted to see people from every age group visiting their shop but feel sad at the visitors’ ignorance about good books. “It is also sad that more and more parents and teachers give importance only to textbooks as they focus on the children getting good marks but never persuade kids to read fiction and other books.”
Looking back at their venture, Satabdi says,“Everyday is memorable. Meeting new people, seeing new places is always exciting. We hope to encourage and inspire people everywhere to read more books. By books we mean storybooks, not textbooks or academic books.”
Asked about their favourite authors, Akshaya says, “In Oriya literature, Fakir Mohan Senapati is my favourite. He wrote ‘Dhulia Baba’ 100 years ago,and you can find many Dhulia Babas in today’s society. My all-time favourite is Albert Camus, who has written ‘The Outsider.’” Satabdi adds, “My recent favourite is ‘The Adivasi will Not Dance’ by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar.”
About the difficulties the duo faced during their trips, they say, “The initial period was difficult in Orissa. We used to stay in hotels. But while touring other states, we were lucky with accommodation and food. Many people came to support us on our tour. They hosted us in their homes and lovingly fed us. We are very grateful to all of them.”
The couple is all set to leave for Baripada in mid-December.
