Another Spitian summer is coming to a close. Night-time temperatures have started dipping to sub-zero and the first snow of the season has already fallen. Water, electricity and phone network issues have all started cropping up, as is common for this time of the year. I have been winding up my work here; it is […]
And what a day it was! We had 150 people show up, a huge number by Spiti standards. This was about five times the people that we were prepared to host, and fifteen times of our average daily footfall. Most of them were children, who started showing up in groups an hour before the opening
Our new free community library space for Let’s Open a Book, which we’ve been slowly setting up over the last month, opens in a few hours. The inauguration is going to be a humble event, but I’m anxious. I’m sitting here alone, mentally reviewing the arrangements for the day. I can’t help but think of
Embracing Imperfections Read More »
I was recently felicitated for the work we’re doing at Let’s Open a Book. This happened at the La Darcha fair, a multi-day festival celebrating the historical trade relations between different Himalayan regions. The award was presented by Ravi Thakur Lauhal Spiti, organized by Himachal Ekta Munch. I was one of the 30 women who
Felicitation at Ladarcha Mela Read More »
Finally, after months of scouting, we’ve found a new library space in Kaza (Spiti Valley) for Let’s Open a Book. It is a four-room space that will have separate reading rooms for children and adults. This is a significant upgrade from the one and a half rooms that we had previously been operating from. The
Anyone following the news knows that things have been bad in Himachal for the past few days. When the mobile and internet networks started working yesterday after over 48 hours of complete blackout, horror stories started pouring in. We recently moved our operations base to Manali, so I happened to be here right in the
Thank you Mint Lounge for writing about us. Someone aptly told me that this article feels like a warm hug. https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/ideas/free-community-library-spiti-valley-111688027527349.html
As the founder of Let’s Open a Book, I’m constantly making big and small decisions. These days there are a lot of operational decisions to make, like “how do we send these boxes of books to Spiti” or “how do we hire the right librarians”. A couple of months ago it were questions like “how
Will doing this make me happy? Read More »
A little over a month ago, we set up an operations office in Jagatsukh (a village about 5 kms away from Manali, Himachal Pradesh). While the main objective of this set-up was to support our free community in Kaza, Spiti Valley, we decided to convert the hall of the new premises into a small free
Manali (Jagatsukh) Library Read More »
‘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
