A theatre artist in Pune, with a deep love for Marathi literature, turned to driving an auto-rickshaw during the Covid-19 pandemic. In an effort to maintain his passion for Marathi literature, Prashant Kamble came up with the idea of setting up a library in his auto-rickshaw.

It’s been two years now since this 35-year-old part-time theatre artiste, who drives an autorickshaw for a living, retrofitted his vehicle with a small shelf where he keeps Marathi books, mostly works of literature, so that his passengers can enter the world of reading. “I want people to get back to books. We are all stuck to our mobile phones these days,” Kamble said.

His mobile library now has about 50 books, mostly in Marathi, and Kamble feels that he has made hundreds of people take that first step.

The aim is to encourage people to read books,” he said, adding that many of his passengers at least flip through the  pages. “You never know… Those 15 minutes in my auto may help someone get back to reading, or better still, pick up the habit anew.”