Indian Express (April 24) had an article saying that it
was apt on this day "to reflect on the fate of the city's
remaining circulating libraries".Abbas Ali, the owner of the Abbas Circulating Library at Matunga, was quoted saying: "Ek time hota tha jab dukan kholne ke time pe bahar bachchon ki line lagi rahti thi." (There was a time when children would line up outside and wait for us to open.)
From a peak of 200 people visiting his library each day, on Saturday last(World Book Day), Ali's library rented out more VCDs and DVDs than books, says the article.
It also says:
* A circulating library is a neighbourhood bookshop
that stocks books, comics and magazines.
* Membership hovers between Rs 150 and Rs 200 a
month, usually with a token deposit.
* Readers can also rent books for a week at a time,
at 10 per cent of the cost of the book.In Goa, for some years now, this writer has been pushing the idea of expats and alumni supporting reading clubs in schools. For about US$100, your school, club or whatever can get upto 20-25 magazines each month, for a whole year! Indian magazines are fairly inexpensive, and there's a great diversity now available on the newsstands -- targeted at youth, pre-primary school children (Magic Pot and Junior Chandamama), women, sports enthusiasts, computer or electronic hobbyists, news-addicts, the glamour-struck and cine-fans, those searching for the right careers, readers thirsting for general knowledge, pet-owners, motor-enthusiasts, and more.
If you can do it, do get in touch with anyone you think is deserving and convince them to start that $100-dollar-a-year reading club. Try to locate someone who already has the infrastructure (so money won't have to be wasted on chairs and tables). Schools and village or even sports clubs are great potential places. If you want a list of magazines available, get in touch with me. FN
_____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- If you are related to the field of IT (or even if not) please visit http://www.bytesforall.org, a network on how computers can help the commonman, and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--W-E-B--S-I-T-E--=-=-=-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from Saligaonet | http://www.goacom.com/saligao_tinto/ ============================================================================ * Send e=mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (NOT saligaonet@goacom.com) * Leave SUBJECT blank <--- Commom Mistake !! * On first line of the BODY of your message, type: subscribe saligaonet YOUR.EMAIL OR unsubscribe saligaonet YOUR.EMAIL Questions/Problems? Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
