Archiving for one and all

Even when he is talking over the phone, professor D.A. Gawai sounds like he can hold an entire class’ rapt attention. He pauses mid-sentence to pick the right word from the plethora of options in his mind, explaining his ideas in an articulate manner, kind yet business-like. 

When he is not teaching, the professor is busy with his parallel project. He is calling for books one doesn’t need anymore — any book that is now just gathering dust on your shelf can now be a part of his ambitious book shelf. 

With the intention of setting up a free library in Patur, a small village in the interior of Akola district of Maharashtra, Gawai hopes to give its citizens a free, unobstructed access to books. “Ours is a really small village, housing just around 400 to 500 houses. But even with so many people living here, there are no colleges,” he says. As it turns out, schools in Patur only go up till the class 7. Once past the seventh grade, students rarely pursue further education because classes after that require them to leave home and move to a different place. “So, these kids simply drop out of school after that because it isn’t possible for everyone to leave their homes,” he rues. 

D.A. Gawai

Considering how education is not easily accessible for everyone, Gawai aims to change how education is received. Coming from the school of thought that one doesn’t need to be in a classroom to learn new things, he is willing to offer children the next best tool — books. “These children are really smart. They have a will to learn, but very little access to the tools of learning. And with our initiative, we are trying to ameliorate this condition,” he explains. 

According to him, once the children are out of the school without anywhere else to report, they end up wasting their time doing nothing. “Now because they already know how to read, we are facilitating the books to them through a free library that they can visit anytime they want,” he elaborates. 

Hailing from the same village, the accountancy professor believes it is his responsibility to give back to the land. Leaving his house in Patur, he went on to finish his school and college education from Aurangabad. A college professor, who has been teaching for the last two decades, Gawai is well aware of how sharp minds go to waste if not guided right, and stresses on the urgency of the issue. “We want to act quickly because we don’t want these kids straying,” he says.  

Gawai doesn’t expect the fanciest of books from his donors. He doesn’t even care about the genre of books. As long as they will help build the foundations of the library, he is welcome to any donations. “We are open to anything — fiction, non-fiction, old magazines, notes, biographies, entrance exam books — anything that will encourage the children to pick them up and stick to reading. The idea is to spread knowledge through the medium of books, not the genres,” he points out. As of now, Gawai says they have received thousands of books spread across varied genres and monetary donations adding up to Rs 67,000. 

Some of the books that were donated to the cause.

Collecting these books from the city, Gawai has taken it on himself to transport them all the way to the village. “The construction of the library has already started,” he says excitedly, adding that he is hoping to inaugurate it on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra. 

Gawai also hopes to launch an online archive of books for the library soon. His students from college will help him set up the system. “This way, the books we don’t have hard copies for will also be available to the children,” he concludes.