‘आज बहुत बर्फ पड़ रही है, आज बच्चे नहीं आए’ (it’s snowing a lot today, so none of the kids have showed up) – Kalzang tells me. She says this quite hesitantly, so I reassure her that it is completely ok. I also realise that it has happened for the first time in months. In a place where winter temperatures dip down as low as -38 degrees C, this is quite a feat.
This is the first year when our library is open all through the winter months, so we’re learning as we go along. We are brainstorming ideas to make sure that the library space is as warm and cozy as possible. We are experimenting with heating systems which take into consideration the environment, unreliable electricity supply and of course, fit into our tiny budget (we are yet to figure out the ideal solution).
But there are other things that we’ve figured out. For instance, we realised that children love toys and games days, so we now have two of those every week, instead of one. We couldn’t find anyone to bake us a cake for Christmas, so we made hot chocolate in-house and got samosas for everyone (over 45 children showed up for our little Christmas party). We have a lovingly curated collection of books open to anyone who walks in. And true to the Spitian spirit, our librarians Dolker and Kalzang brew a cup of hot tea for anyone who wants it.
I’m sitting hundreds of miles away as I write this, but the photos and stories that I receive every morning warm me up from the inside. I hope and I pray that this warmth makes its way into the hearts of Spitians throughout the long winter months.