Sarvottama Grandhalayam witnesses footfall of 10,000 people, say organisers

Annual book mela in Vijayawada distributes thousands of free books, attracting crowds from neighboring districts since 2015.

It was a flurry of activity at the Sarvottama Grandhalayam in Vijayawada on Sunday, the second and last day of the book mela, hosted jointly by the Grandhalayam and Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) Library Association, where books were distributed free of cost.

Most of the shelves wore an empty look on Sunday as hundreds of students and youngsters, in tow with their parents, swarmed the Grandhalayam to grab a book of their choice. Inaugurated on Saturday, the two-day programme saw a footfall of around 10,000 people, according to the organisers.

An annual event, the programme has been organised since 2015. In the past eight years, nearly 3 lakh books have been distributed free of cost, says A.P. Library Association general secretary Raavi Sarada.

“Most of these are donated by individuals, who find it difficult to accommodate hundreds of books in their homes. A few kind-hearted publishers, too, come forward to donate some for the purpose,” she says. One can see a large ‘hundi’ outside the library, where individuals can drop in their books and leave. Those working at the library start arranging them in order, according to the genre, early on.

“Arranging the books is a laborious task. However, we get so much gratitude from poor students that makes us forget all the hard work we put in,” said Ms. Sarada. According to her, a free book distribution mela of this scale is not organised anywhere else in the State. Therefore, people come from neighbouring districts as well.

The idea behind the mela stemmed from a desire to do more for those who do not have access to books. “Earlier, programmes marking the World Book Day, celebrated on April 23, used to be confined to felicitating writers. I wanted to do something useful for children on this occasion. From 2015, we began distributing books,” she recalls.

While the mela was held coinciding with the World Book Day until last year, the organisers felt it was difficult for people to come to a crowded place in the peak of summer. Therefore, this time, it was organised in February.