Written by Vishala Vasant
A conference room overlooking the beach. A sea of books within the conference room. Like-minded folks riding the same wave of passion. Thoughtful and experienced ‘bookworm’ers helping us dive into the depths of reading. This is how my LEC journey began at the first contact period in Goa…
From the moment I stepped into the room, different emotions gushed in. First of all, I was nervous as I had left behind my 18-month-old at home for the first time ever for so many days. I let it stay in the back-shelves of my mind and took in the fresh air. I was amused by the the number of books in the room and the way they were arranged. I felt like a child, bursting with joy and excitement! I was touched by the way the Bookworm team welcomed us with thoughtful little acts and gifts. I soon realised, this wasn’t just a course with just some credits. It is going to be an immersive experience and a holistic one.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t overwhelmed by the fact that most of my fellow batchmates work with children regularly, they were teachers, librarians, special educators. There, I was, straight from television writing, where I created content suitable to the commercial world. But as the day passed, with every session conducted by the LEC team, with every book I read, a sense of hope lingered and made way to my heart… “I too will find my voice as a library educator through LEC. I will find myself in the books!”
The highlight of the contact period for me, was ‘reading’. In the recent past, I had missed out on extensive reading but thanks to LEC, I jumped in and devoured the books curated for us like a hungry girl wanting to eat books. There were so many titles but so little time. Such fascinating displays about food and water. There was always something interesting happening. There was always some new experience the Bookworm Team was throwing our way. Amidst it all, I would try to scurry pockets of time and read as much as I could. And I couldn’t have merely read. Some books needed re-reading. Some other books needed deep breaths in between. The stories would occupy a corner in my head. They would sit and make a place of their own. And then I would move on… to another book.
Speaking of reading, my notions about reading were challenged. Reading, to me, has always been a solitary act. But I guess I was wrong. During one of the sessions, we were asked to read a research paper in our groups. Quite naturally, we read the piece by ourselves silently, in our minds, and shared our thoughts afterwards. Later, we were popped a question by one of our facilitators – “Did you notice how some of you were hesitant to read together?” True that. I have never read with somebody unless it was a certain academic material during class hours. In other instances, I have discussed what I’ve read after I’ve read but never read along with someone for pleasure or meaning making. It changed here. I started reading with another person or a group of people only at this contact period. And I’m glad I did it for I can see how a piece of text connects us and brings us together.
Not only that, even my perception of the relationship between a library and children was challenged. Before the LEC contact period, if you had asked me, how would you introduce children to various books, you’d hear me say that I would talk about the book or make children hear each other’s reads of the week or something like that. But..but..but…I was amazed how our facilitators exposed us to a gamut of books through games which were so much fun! I found myself going and looking for a few books we caught glimpses of during the games and activities.
Additionally, the visual arts session that I witnessed at Bookworm library, clearly made me believe that a library can be a fun place for children to just come together and express, explore or just be who they want to be! A library can engage with its readers and to such an extent, is one of my biggest takeaways.
I left from there with a deep feeling of gratitude towards the Universe for leading me to Bookworm and to the LEC team for creating such an invaluable experience. I left with a sense of belonging… I left with a bright feeling of hope…
