Carving a library, creating readers
A local carpenter Narayan Chandra Mistry, 50, sat at the entrance of the library carving portraits of famous persons on wood. Inside, readers were immersed in books, some reading the daily newspapers.
This was Narayan Chanra library in Jhalakathi on Friday. The library is housed in two rooms in a market owned by Udbodhon Secondary School.
Narayan Chandra built the library 16 years ago, spending a portion of his monthly income. The library was named after him.
He set up a library with just 20 books in the balcony of a house he rented in Bashpatti area of Jhalakathi in 2003.
It shifted to the market this year in July, with financial assistance from Shamim Ahmed, executive director Sabiha Chemical Works.
He rented the rooms with an advance contribution of Tk 400,000 to the school authorities. He pays the monthly rent regularly as well.
Narayan Chandra has spent nearly Tk 70,000 on making the bookshelves. There are more than 3,000 local and foreign books in the library.
Background
Narayan Chandra comes from a village Biharipur in Bakerganj upazila of Barishal. He could not afford to study beyond Class VIII. He went to Kolkata in search of work and also trained in woodwork. He joined in a carpenter's shop upon returning to Bangladesh.
Narayan Mistry owns a furniture shop at Bashpatti area. The library has on display wood carved portraits of Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and many more. Narayan Chandra made these himself.
He has two sons and a daughter. His sons help him with the library, alongside their studies.
“Syed Mujtaba Ali said, buying books does not bankrupt a person. This inspired me to establish the library. After reading that line, I started buying books for myself. I thought why not I let people to read the books?” said Narayan Chandra.
The library is open for readers from 5:00pm to 10:00pm everyday. It has nearly 1500 readers.
The library directorate recognised it as a public library in 2013. Narayan Chandra has received Tk 75,000 as government funds so far.
A school teacher Milon Roy who is a regular reader of the library told Prothom Alo, “The library has various books on literature, history, the liberation war, religion, philosophy and so on. The library is of great use for the students of Udbodhon Secondary School.”
Another reader Kamrul Hassain said, “It is inspiring that a carpenter took such initiative.”
“I come here regularly and motivate others to come. The library has a variety of collections such as the 15-volume of Documents of the War of Independence, Indian philosophy, books by Rabindranath Tagore and many rare books,” he added.
A seventh grader Himel said he came to the library to read comics as there was a huge collection of comics in the library.
Besides enriching the collection in the library, Narayan Chandra is working on encouraging people to read.
“Public libraries are universities for people. I used to go from door to door to register readers. I managed to make hundreds of readers,” said Narayan Chandra.
“There are 300 books yet to be placed in the library due to shortage of bookshelves. We need more funding for the library,” he added.