This is where you get FREE books in the UAE

If you've visited the Sharjah Book Fair this year looking for translations of, say, all of Vijay Tendulkar's plays in Marathi or perhaps Bhalchandra Nemade, who wrote the Marathi version of Ulysess called Kosla (the cocoon) or other works in regional Indian languages, you may not have struck gold. It's a bit of a fight getting hold of translations, especially outside India. Terrific writing goes unread because it's stuck in an inaccessible, regional ether. And it's not a money-spinner, so publishers stay away.
The result? A drastically dipped percentage of people who read - in the mother tongue, and translations. It would be great to see book fairs attempt to plug that gap. Given the sorry state, it's a joy to come across a thriving little movement in the UAE that's doing its bit to promote Marathi literature and reading. It's a model that can easily be adopted by enthusiasts of other languages who are looking for books in their mother tongue. The movement is called Books at Your Dooorstep.

It was started in UAE in 2014, but goes back further, to 2009 when Nashik-based Vinayak Ranade began a movement called 'Granth Tumachya Daari' ('Books at Your Doorstep').
It enabled starved-for-literature book lovers to discover new voices in their mother tongue. Books at your Doorstep empowers bibliophiles to read in their mother tongues and pass on their love for the written word to iPad-addicted millennials. The best part? It's free.
Any group of 35 readers gets a box of 100 books on various subjects - fiction and non-fiction - and the box is periodically upgraded, more titles added. Initially, families who've lived in UAE for years were no longer used to reading Marathi books. So the initial boost came from an older generation, parents of UAE residents. Things have since picked up. What started with eight boxes of books is now 14 boxes in UAE, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Bahrain, a Dubai co-ordinator Vishakha Pandit tells Khaleej Times, showing us her box of books and some of the popular titles. She says after the movie released, a lot of people wanted to read N. S. Inamdar's Rau, on which the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer Bajirao Mastani was based. Pop culture evidently goes a long way to boost a reading culture in the UAE.
How it works
There are 14 coordinators in UAE - one in RAK, Ajman, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi, four in Sharjah and six in Dubai. Each coordinator has one book box containing 25 books to cater to 10 - 12 readers. All coordinators take the responsibility to seek out new readers. Everyone's connected on Whatsapp. Sujata Bhinge, one of the coordinators who runs the project in Bur Dubai says all coordinators meet once in three months at each other's homes. The box exchange makes it possible for the coordinators to socialise, renew acquaintances, exchange ideas, plan ahead, etc. The co-ordinators run the project aided by Facebook and Whatsapp. There's a readers' group on Whatsapp. As soon a new book box arrives, the list is put out on Whatsapp so readers can reserve their books and collect them when convenient. To become a part of the movement or to know more, write to Sujata Bhige (sujata.bhige@gmail.com) or Vishakha Pandit (vishakha_pandit@yahoo.com)

- nivriti@khaleejtimes.com