What is the human library? The concept was initiated in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2000, by Ronni and Dany Abergel, Christoffer Erichsen and Asma Mouna. It was developed to challenge societal prejudices wherever and for whatever reasons they occur. In India, the library was introduced in Indore in September 2016, Hyderabad in March and Mumbai about two weeks ago. The Pune and Delhi chapters were flagged off on June 18.

Plans to take the library to colleges

What mostly happens when one reads a book is that they have questions THAT cannot be answered. In a human library, you can ask your book any question about their story and receive an answer. This is also a way to encourage having someone to talk to, a rarity and great need of the hour these days.

— Ria Nadkarni, psychologist

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Reading A Women of Grit, by Dr Sanjeevani Gogawle reaffirmed a lot of things I believed in, such as how a woman can carve her way in society. while reading Joel’s book revealed much about how Tanzanian culture is so similar to ours.

— Aman Joshi, a reader

With inputs from Rhea Bali. Photographs by Santosh Mishra

There are paperbacks and hardcovers, e-books and audio books. And then, there are ‘human books’.Only if you’ve been living under a rock all along, would you ask what the latter is. For the uninitiated, these are people who have stories to tell, some, life-changing. Yes, these ‘books’ breathe, talk and feel just like us, and are willing to be loaned to people who’d like to ‘read them’. That’s the human library in a nutshell.While the concept, which originated in Copenhagen way back in 2000, has found favour with over 80 countries, Pune recently joined the list of Indian cities that have started their own Human Library chapters, namely Indore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. Led by NGO Global Harmony Trust , under the chairmanship of Col Navneet MP Mittal (retd), the city’s chapter had its first meet at a restaurant in Baner last month. Over 70 people turned up; quite a feat, considering major roads were blocked by the Wari procession that day.But, with Pune already familiar with a host of community activities, one might ask how this is any different. Navneet’s daughter Eishna Mittal, coordinator and reader at the Human Library, explains “Only when you interact with other people, do you realise that everyone is the same deep down. Each one has struggles. And as is globally, the purpose of the human library is to encourage (real) conversations that would help overcome the prejudices we often hold about people around us, even though we might hardly know them.” From what we see, there’s beauty in the idea of a reader and a book (who might be total strangers) engaging in a conversation, creating a space for some difficult questions to be expected, appreciated and answered.Joining this library isn’t rocket science. Writer and voice artist Neha Pathak, a part of the coordinating team, says, “Readers are briefed about the books that are up for reading. Based on their availability, we let readers know that their book is ready to be ‘read’. Some books don’t mind a gathering of two or more readers, while there are others that prefer a one-on-one conversation.”But how does one qualify to become a book? Eishna explains, “Anyone who has overcome adversity in their lives and wants to tell their story, can do so.” Interestingly, from the repertoire of over 20 books in Pune’s library, were two paraplegic men, one visually-challenged man, an innocent man who was behind bars but considers the dungeons his true paathshala (school), and a woman of grit who fought patriarchy, among others. But Neha clarifies that anyone with a unique perspective or personality could also fit the bill — two of them were Tanzanian students who chose to speak about life as foreign students in India. Joel Ngomi Lova, one of the students who narrated his story, Tanzanian future in India — Part 1, shares, “I felt the need to shed light on the experiences foreign students have in India. My book highlighted both the negative and positive aspects of what I have faced as a student here.”And did the books have any sort of apprehensions in opening up to total strangers? City-based radio jockey Apurva who narrated her tale Varkh, admits, “It didn’t feel weird at all. On the contrary, while talking to a stranger, you can open up a lot more that you would to people you know.” Apurva, who spoke about life as a barefoot traveller, was quite popular among readers. Meanwhile, Mohan Mehta, who narrated The Dungeon Scholar — his learning from being behind bars, believes that being a book taught him a thing or two as well. “The two-way format of the interaction taught me that not everyone is necessarily after your blood. If your case is correctly put up, then people truly understand.”While the library seems like a promising experience for the city, the concept could help build more empathy, something our society often lacks. Psychologist Dr Natasha D’Cruz says, “Since a one-on-one conversation takes place between the book and the reader, the reader will learn to empathise and identify the struggle faced by the book, which will help broaden one’s mind.”While the next meeting is under way, Col Navneet, Neha and Eishna are keen on taking the library to city colleges. Neha says, “Many of the (older) readers we had that day didn’t seem to really have many prejudices. Honestly we don’t think we’d be shaping any minds at that age. We’d hence like to take these books to younger readers who have impressionable minds.” The idea is to get about 12 colleges on board for the year and have one event at one institute every month.