Joynal’s library: A day labourer’s love for books
Joynal Abedin is a day labourer. He has a passion for books. He has built a library in his village out of his love for books. Sofi Khan visited Joynal’s library – Satbhita Gronthonir– in Kurigram
Satbhita is almost 20 kilometres away from Kurigram town. While walking down the rural road, the little corrugated tin house comes into view. The walls are coloured indigo and there are steel grills in the front. Three sides of the building, ‘Gronthonir’ are surrounded by crop fields.
Inside, the floor is squeaky clean, there is a big table, chairs and benches. There are two wooden bookshelves filled with books. Some attentive readers were lost in the world of books. Portraits of famous persons like Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sufia Kamal, Shamsur Rahman and Syed Shamsul Haq were hung on the walls.
Joynal Abedin, born in a poor family, studied till fifth standard. From a young age he used to work in crop fields with his father. Like his predecessors, he also began working as a day labourer. But Joynal is different from other labourers.
With a smile on his face, Joynal told the story of how he founded the Satbhita Gronthonir, a library with almost 3500 books.
Falling in love with books in Gazipur
When work dried up at the village, like many others, Joynal used to go to Gazipur in search of work. Somehow, Joynal got a job at a brick kiln in his first trip to Gazipur. After that, he used to always work in brick kilns in Gazipur during the off season.
Work at the brick kilns began at 2:00 or 3:00 in the night and ended in the morning. There was no work at noon. After taking his lunch, Joynal used to hang out with the other labourers in the evening. Sometimes, he would watch some television in a tea stall.
One day in 2011, Joynal was roaming around after finishing his work at the brick kiln. He stopped after seeing some bookshops on the pavement. Joynal liked the titles of the books. As they were quite cheap, Joynal bought two. He began reading them during his leisure time.
When he was a kid, reading text books always felt like a drag. But he enjoyed reading these new books. He then bought a few more. And gradually, he fell in love with books.
From then on, whenever he would go to Gazipur looking for work, he tried to purchase more books. He bought second hand books from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Tongi Railway Station and Tongi College gate. Gradually, his book collection grew larger. He began thinking about building a library back in his village, so that his fellow villagers could read books.
“I’m a day labourer, what would people say if they hear me talking about making a library” such discouraging thoughts would creep into his mind. But he would dispel them himself, thinking, “No matter what the people say, I will build a library.”
Satbhita Public Library
After working in Gazipur for a few months, Joynal returned to his village. He spoke with a few people back home, all of them seconded his proposal. They decided to construct a small house at an abandoned spot in the village. The ones, who took that decision, were all day to day earners like Joynal. They saved up from their earnings and chipped in to make the library.
“This is how we arranged for the money and built a corrugated tin house. We also bought a small rack to keep the books, a few chairs and a table,” Joynal said.
The library was named Satbhita Public Library. The library got inaugurated on 15 November, 2011.
The library closes down
The year 2013 came along. The number of books in the library increased to 200. Students and the villagers were regularly reading the books and everything was going great. But then a clash took place at the village during an election, which even claimed one life.
After the incident, all men from Satbhita fled the area, fearing safety. During all this commotion, the library also got shut down.
“I felt terrible. I had no other choice but to donate the books with the rack to a different library,” Joynal said.
Joynal returned to Gazipur, but his heart was still stuck on the pages of books. He was engrossed with thoughts of how to again build a library.
Once again, he started collecting books. This time, he began growing his collection at a corner of his room. He started delivering books from his collection to the people in his village and collect them himself after a certain period.
Land for the library
In 2015, Joynal asked his neighbour for one decimal land. The neighbor asked for Tk 20,000 for the land and it was decided that Joynal would pay for it by paying Tk 1000 per month.
The news of Joynal wanting to buy land to build a library broke out in the village. Some called Joynal’s pursuit ‘madness’, others ridiculed him. Joynal said, “Many used to harass me. I felt bad, but I didn’t let that stop me; instead it strengthened my intent.”
This intent drove him to pay off the price of the land in 2019. Then, his friends and readers joined hands to level the soil. A tin-shed house was constructed on the land. Chairs, tables and bookshelves were built and placed inside. It took two years to complete all the work.
On 28 February, 2021, Joynal’s library- Satbhita Gronthonir– was inaugurated.
Brick walls replace iron sheets
Somehow, the news of Joynal’s Gronthonir found its way to joint secretary Enamul Habib. Habib, who is currently working as a project head at LGSP, visited Joynal’s library one day. Amazed by Joynal’s hard work and the number of readers, that very day he vowed to help construct a brick building for the library in place of the tin-shed house.
In September, 2022, he spent a total of Tk 550,000 to replace iron sheets with brick walls, purchase furniture, books, chairs and a table.
On 6 October, Joynal’s dream – Gronthonir – was inaugurated. Currently, 25-30 people read books at the library every day. 550-600 readers borrow books from the library per month. Gronthonir has nearly 3500 books in its collection.
Joynal now stays at the village
Earlier, Joynal would go to other districts in search of work. Since the library opened in 2017, he only works in his locality. On Fridays, the library is open in the morning and in the afternoon. On the other days of the week, the library is opened in the afternoon. Joynal, himself, opens the library. If he is caught up in some important work, his friends open the library for him.
Not leaving the village for work anymore has negatively impacted his income. Still, all of Joynal’s dreams are centred around his library, “Once every week I want to take my books to the local schools. By doing that, I can easily hand the books to the school-going students. I also want to open a school and create a science club.”
*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy