Here’s a library where you choose books that blink, wink, laugh, cry and smile as you read them. You ask questions, and they answer. The books here are humans.
Silence is not appreciated, difficult questions are expected and are gladly answered. Here, you borrow people and their life stories. Every soul has a story to tell and reading these could take you places from the comfort of your chair. Bringing the Human Library to you are three law students — Gayatri Bala, Saketh Roy Vydyula and Keerthana Gedela.
Challenging stereotypes
Currently, the organisers have six human books on board that belong to diverse backgrounds. They plan to launch the library on July 28.
“The point of starting this library is to initiate a dialogue on issues that actually matter, are important and need to be addressed. We are not expecting any revolutionary change from this, but at least it will set the ball rolling,” said Vydyula.
The six human books on their list include a member of the LGBTQI community, a woman biker, a victim of Islamophobia, an environmentalist, a photographer and a Kargil war veteran.
The library will be set every weekend. They plan to set it up on college campuses,and these sessions will be held exclusively for students. The library will also be set up in public places such as parks where people can just walk in and be part of the initiative.
“We are not charging as we want more people to come in and listen to stories. We want them to start talking about issues that matter to them and to us as a society,” says Bala.
Seeds of a new beginning
The idea of starting a Visakhapatnam branch of Human Library occurred to Bala after he attended three sessions of the Human Library in Hyderabad.
“It took me nine months to get here. I had to first convince Saketh and Keerthana to get on board. Then began the long-process of getting a license from the original Human Library in Copenhagen (Denmark),” says Bala.
Initiating a dialogue
Developed in Copenhagen, the first Human Library was started in 2000 at the Roskilde festival. It was conceptualised to build positive framework for conversations which would challenge stereotypes through positive dialogues. Here, difficult questions are not just answered but appreciated. Today, the concept of Human Library has spread to over 65 countries, including India. Many big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune have been conducting sessions of Human library.
The concept follows a simple format. The organisers draw a list of human books and the topics they would talk about. Interested participants can choose whichever book they are interested in interacting with. Every participant will be given 30 minutes with the book. Maximum of six people can interact with one book at a time.
To become a book, interested people have to send a write up to the organisers who will then conduct training sessions on what parts of the story should be narrated and how it would be taught.
To join the library, contact 8978583715
