Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover!

This is a human library where the books talk. The books and their organisers share with Society how they engage readers with invigorating stories and conversations

- Debjani Ghosh

Reading is cool, but have you ever thought how wonderful it would be if you listened to the books instead of reading them? No, by listening, I definitely don’t mean someone reading something aloud to you. It’s something even more interesting— something you may not have done before. Baffled? Well, I am talking about a human library. Here, books talk!

The human library attempts to challenge prejudices by facilitating a conversation between two people. The concept had begun 17 years ago as an anti-violence initiative by Ronni Abergel and three more of his friends. Most importantly, this library is a place where you can expect smart and clear answers to even the most difficult questions. The library took its first step in Indore, subsequently moving to Hyderabad, and now making a presence in Mumbai.

Nicky, 34, a doctor, and one of the organisers of the Human Library Mumbai (HLM) event believe that a lot of hard work went into organising the event, a first for Mumbai. “The plan is kind of being reproduced in different cities and everything goes past Ronni; as in, he is the one who gives us the final word. We had just read about it on Facebook and Andaleeb Qureshi (chemical engineer and the main organiser of HLM) came across it, which made her speak to Ronni. The thought of taking it to Mumbai came into her mind and that’s how she contacted me to take it further,” says Nicky, who along with seven more in her team, took it on from there and decided to try it out for the first time in Mumbai.