This former bonded labourer's story is a captivating read

A daily wage worker, who was once a bonded labourer, has been running a public library on a footpath in the city since 2011.

Recognition finally came to Syed Ishaq in the form of the ‘Library Service Award’ presented by the state government through the Public Libraries department. It was presented at Hanagal in Haveri district to mark Librarians Day, which is the birth anniversary of S R Ranganathan, the father of the library movement in India.

Ishaq’s free library is situated on the road behind the Masjid Ammar in Rajiv Nagar 2nd Stage. Ranganathan says that he has a collection of over 800 books in English, Kannada and Urdu languages and also gets 17 daily newspapers for his library.

“I get seven Kannada, five English, three Urdu and one Tamil newspaper. I get around 50 readers on an average every day, including students. Some days, I get up to 80 visitors. I maintain a register of all the readers with their mobile numbers and feedback. Since I started the library, people have been advising me to shift it to a place where the literacy rate is high so as to get more recognition. At least 90% of the people in Rajiv Nagar and the surrounding areas are Muslims and the literacy rate is low. But my defence is that the need for the library is more in its present location where I can spread the love for reading,” he said.

Recalling his childhood, he said that they were natives of Ganjam in Srirangapatna but his parents shifted to Mysuru in search of a livelihood. “I was sent as a bonded labourer at the age of eight to Mathikere and Chikkamlluru in Channapatna taluk, for 10 years. I studied only till the first standard. While working for landlords as a bonded labourer, I used to listen to the children reading out their lessons in the evening. With the help of the children of the landlords’ families, I nurtured my reading skills. At the age of 18, I returned to Mysuru and started working as a daily wager. For some time I used to clean sanitary pits too,” he said.

He said that “I used to wait for the contractors to hire me near my house where other labourers also accompanied me. One day in 2011, a man sitting next to us, left his newspaper. A few people who came later, read the newspaper and left it behind. This continued for a couple of days. Then I felt that this sharing of newspapers is a good idea to develop a reading habit. I then started buying a couple of newspapers and put it there on the pavement for public use. As this evoked a good response from the labourers and also from other people, I built a hut and started the library in a small way,” he recalls.

Ishaq has two sons, one an autorickshaw driver and another a bag maker and two daughters. His wife Saheen Taj also helps him in taking care of the library which is open from 7 am to 7 pm on all days. “Even when I was down with fever for 15 days, my wife managed it without any change in the schedule,” he says.

A big fan of Kannada language, he says irrespective of one’s mother tongue, they should learn the language of the land.

“I advise the students visiting the library to learn Kannada well besides learning other languages which may help them get more job opportunities,” he said.