Remember those dusty bookshelves — and the books in them that you keep forgetting to clean because you don’t have time to take them out? Well, here’s a chance to dust them out.
A group of city’s youngsters are accepting book donations for a second hand book sale, the proceeds of which will go to Teach For India, Chennai.
Intrigued? That was the plan.
A travel writer and animal rights activist Vaishnavi Prasad heard about a concept called Books on Toast (BoT) when Mumbai-based freelance writer Anuya Jakatdar decided to start collecting books for charity. After successful editions in Mumbai and Bangalore, Vaishnavi decided to hold one here in Chennai.
“I went to the BoT event when I was in Bangalore and I really liked the concept. There were lots of nice books that were actually affordable. And what’s more, the proceeds went to charity too,” says Vaishnavi. One thing led to another and Vaishnavi borrowed the BoT label for a similar event in Chennai. “It’s been in the pipeline for a while but only now I got around to get it done,” she says.
The donation drive, which started in the last week of October, has so far collected more than 2,000 books in just three weeks. And the number is still growing. “The underlying idea is to keep books in circulation. There are so many books lying in shelves useless. The aim is to get them out so at least other people can make use of it,” she adds.
The titles collected vary from snazzy westerns and thrillers like John Grishams, Irving Wallaces and Jeffery Archers to stately old romances, some thrilling Agatha Christies and nostalgia-evoking Enid Blytons. Anything except textbooks is welcome.