13-year-old on a mission to ignite passion for book reading

Hyderabad: Reading habit is slowly disappearing and people prefer watching silly videos rather than drowning in the world weaved with words. Therefore, with the aim of inculcating reading habits among all especially children, the brave 13-year-old Hyderabadi girl, Akarshana Sathish, has set up 18 libraries in Telangana and Tamil Nadu and also planned to set up more few additional libraries in the coming days.

With a passion for literature and a commitment to her community, the little Samaritan took it upon herself to collect used books from her apartments, neighbours, classmates, and relatives, in the initial stage to set up a library. She set up the first library at MNJ Cancer Children Hospital with 1,046 books.

But later with the support of like-minded people, who donated around 12,005 books, she established 18 libraries. This way her second library was set at the Sanath Nagar Police Station with 829 books and the third was at the Juvenile and Observation Home for Girls in Hyderabad with 625 books, and the fourth at the Gayathri Nagar Association, Borabanda with 200 books. The fifth and sixth libraries are located at the Coimbatore City Police Street libraries (1,200 books) and the Chennai Boys Club in the Nolambur Police Station (610 books) and the seventh at Government High School, Sanath Nagar, around 610 were donated and also the rest of libraries where set up at Bharosa Support Centre for Women and Children, Siddipet and Government Orphanage Girls Service Home, Madhura Nagar and her eighteenth library was setup at Sai Seva Sangh Girls Home, Moosapet with 805 books recently. The books are mostly based on general knowledge apart from fiction and non-fiction. There are books for children, autobiographies and biographies in Telugu, Hindi and English.

Speaking to the Hans India, Akarshana Sathish, the 8th class student, said, “my main aim of setting up libraries is to inculcate reading habit among the people. Also, nowadays we see people addicted to mobile phones rather than reading books .If libraries are set up at various areas, especially youth will grab a book and read it.”

Speaking further, she said, “my memorable journey began during the Covid pandemic when I along with my parents visited the MNJ Cancer Children Hospital to provide food. While there, youngsters requested colouring books from me. Seeing their interest, my eyes welled up with tears and I thought why can’t I set up libraries in nook and corners of the city and for them, my journey began,”

Stretching on the several challenges, she said, “ initially, I faced a lot of hurdles, as in the beginning many near and dear once taunted that this mission is a failure, as nowadays no one reads books. To prove everybody wrong and taking this as a challenge I could achieve my goal of setting 18 libraries. In my journey many retried government officers helped me by donating several book especially Telugu language books. Also, humanitarian Chandrashekar Rao has given his factory godown located at IDA Jeedimetla to store my books and so after we collect sufficient books, then we plan to set up the library. And also in my journey Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his own collection of 2,000 general knowledge books.”

Highlighting about the future plan, she added, there is a plan to set up a library at Rashtrapati Nilayam at Bolarum and also there is a groundbreaking project coming up in collaboration with L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad and the National Book Trust, Delhi. The concept allows Metro passengers to take books from one station and return them at another, encouraging reading during their daily commute.

The first Metro library will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in January 2025.

This initiative will allow passengers to take books from one Metro station and return them at another, creating a dynamic reading experience for travelers. It’s a testament to my vision and determination to create positive social change in innovative ways.