Press Brief for the 7th Anniversary Celebration on 24th July 2016

Please enjoy the some of the snaps from the 7th anniversary celebration:

  click here

Library completed six years

It has been more than 6 years since MN Memorial Library started its journey. It was indeed a great accomplishment and we celebrated the occasion on 24th July 2015. Here is the photo album of the day :

6th year anniversary celebration photo album

Please allow me to post the links of the two occasions since the last blog-post:

5th year anniversary celebration photo album 

4th year anniversary celebration photo album




Enjoy viewing !!

A few decisions by the Trust members

MN Memorial Library is all set to complete glorious four years. In these four years, we have not only evolved as an organization, but also learnt to notice and realize some critical problems of our society and of the lower Assam region. Hence, it is imperative for us to take a few initiatives beyond the typical library works. While book-reading will still be the most important goal of the organization, we are also looking forward to take a few steps concerning the culture, literature, social and economic conditions of the people in this region.

The purpose of this blog-post is not to introduce any new thought, but to share the decisions of the board of trustees taken in the general body meeting held a few months back. If you are following our twitter account, some of the updates were shared via the social media. It is to be noted that some of the decisions have already been implemented successfully.

The list:
1) Publish a journal paper on the Home Library concept - how it can inculcate the habit of book reading and provide resources in rural places.
2) Apply for grant to Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation as per the advice from Assam Library Association.
3) The third anniversary celebration will be combined with the fourth year celebration due to money constraint.
4) Do a financial audit of the cash register of MNM Trust by a registered Chartered Accountant individual/company.
5) Publish Annual Report of the trust ; starting with year: 2011-12.
6) Open a section in the library focussed on Goalporiyan culture and literature and work with interested individuals/organizations for the expansion of the rich culture of this region of Assam.
 

Second Anniversary Celebration of MN Memorial Library (Press note and Photo album)

Dear all,
As we are planning the celebration of the third anniversary of MN Memorial Library, we realize that our official library blog has not been updated for quite long. Though we have already updated the Press Note and the Photo Album of the Second Anniversary Celebration of MN Memorial Library into the web, we have not been able to justice to the linkage with the main library blog. Sincere apology is sought for the same.

Please click out the below links to view the Press note and Photo Album of the second anniversary celebration of Maheswar Nath Memorial Library:

PRESS NOTE

PHOTO ALBUM

The second anniversary celebration was unique from different angles. For the first time, we introduced the concept of "Social Inclusion" by inviting people from professions such as rickshaw-pulling, barber, cobbler, mason to deliver lectures on their lives and work. Convincing the people to sit on the dias was itself a big challenge

 The idea was a big success and applauded by the local media in a nice way. At MN Memorial Library, we are committed to bring in more such innovative projects in the days to come.

Hope to see you soon with more updates..... 

Minutes of Meeting of the 1st Anniversary celebration of MN Memorial Library

Minutes of Meeting of the 1^st Anniversary celebration of MN Memorial Library, Agia, Goalpara

Theme: The stories behind a few successes (কেইটিমান সফলতাৰ আঁৰৰ কাহিনী)

Venue: School Auditorium, JN Memorial HS School, Agia

Date: 23^rd May, 2010

Organized by: MNM Trust (www.mnmtrust.org)

 

 

1. Welcome address by Hiran Prova Devi, Managing Trustee

a. The journey of MN Memorial Library in the last year

b. Current status of MN Memorial Library

c. Other Activities of MNM Trust

d. Welcoming the audiences and the guest speakers

2. The thought behind today’s theme--- explained by Manjit Nath. It was followed by invitation of the speaker into the dais by giving a small intro

a. The need of positive message in the society.

b. Success does not come in a day; it’s a journey through many struggles and frustrations.

c. The six speakers have suffered a lot before people start calling them ‘successful’.

 

3. Guest Speech 1 :Practising Literature in a place like Goalpara and going to All India level recognition—a thoughtful journey described by Mr Atanu Bhattacharya, Famous story-writer

a. Literature   and writers of undivided Goalpara are very backward 

b. Goalpara has the oldest Post-Office of North East India and second oldest municipality in Assam

c. Started his career by writing poems and short stories.

d. Wanted to be a short story writer; But felt his initial stories are not that standard in comparison to established writers

e. Temporarily stopped writing stories and concentrated on poems, got established as a poet among people.

f. But basic urge to write short story again got stronger …. Started writing stories in 1999

g. Spoke about the origin of short story

h. He used to draw inspiration from  famous story writers like Mopasa, Anton Chekhov, Silabhadra,  Saed Abdul Malik etc.

i. Now a days many people  in every corner of Assam writes story without  any respect to that art

j. People must study a lot first and then attempt writing.

 

4. Guest Speech 2: Journey from a small village in Chaygaon to Nottingham University, UK and then back to Guwahati- Mr Karuna Kalita, Lecturer, IIT Guwahati with his story

 

a. Applause for the initiative taken by MNM Trust 

b. How he first met Buljit and Manjit and what he learns from these two.

c. There  are so many scopes for a researcher in a developing nation , but less scope in developed nation

d. His root originated in a small village in Chaygaon of kamrup, four sibling, father being a village farmer.

e. A family was full of teachers inspired him for teaching profession

f. He set a goal for himself and nurtures it and that gives him inspiration; We need inspiration to reach to the goal

g. A few lines of Nottingham life, and contrast with India life

h. About “Gaon Chalo” program- he wants students of universities should go to villages and stay there for some days (about a week or so) and personally see what the problems our villagers are facing actually and what they need. These students then take back these experiences to their own professional fields and try some innovative solutions; students should be motivated to work for these problems and need of village people.

i. Three questions were asked from public:

Q1: Other than patriotism , what drives him to come back to India?

A: The place where we are born, we got a duty  and responsibilities  for it; moreover  he is a very homely guy and love to be with my family . The happiness of living in native place matters to much to him.

Q2: His daily schedule as a farmer’s son during school days?

A: That is a big strength and not much different or extra-ordinary from others.

Q3: Does his aims behind going to UK gets fulfilled?

A: Our priorities should not only be money , there are other sides also, and we should be able to distinguish  them.

 

5. Guest Speech3: Launch of a youth magazine with own pocket money, an unwanted break in between, then the struggle to revive it and finally successful- Mr Suresh Ranjan Gaduka, Editor-JEEVAN with his journey:

 

a. Success is not a story of struggle , but the ability to keep the struggle going is also a success. 

b. Emphasis the MN Memorial Library is itself a big success story for others.

c. First as a student of Cotton College, edited “Cottonian” ; since then he has been thinking of a youth magazine.

d. Spoke about the birth story of Jeevan, how invested his own money, about his friend in Delhi who recently committed suicide and how the Delhi to homeward journey that gave birth to Jeevan.

e. All negative aspect(of our society , environment, politics , education everything ) attracts news and publicity . Positive things does not find place in the newspaper.

f. Getting success in and outside Assam from some backward areas is also a positive thing-like working in Microsoft from Agia.

g. Talked about revolution … starting a home library in a place like Agia is also sort of a revolution. Revolution does not only mean coming out to street and give slogan.

h. We have a very short life. To do some good work we should not wait for five years; we should start it today.

i. Spoke about “Jeevan Initiative” and its motto -উত্তৰণ আৰু উদযাপন |

 

6. Guest Speech4 : From the time when one need to struggle to convince Axomiyas that there will be a car any time available for you if you just dial 108 , and today how it images itself as Sanjibani- Mr Mofid Rahman,

a. Started his lecture by clapping for the people behind MN Memorial Home Library. 

b. 108 services not yet fully ‘successful’, still a long way to go…

c. Middle class background gives challenges (প্রত্যাহ্বান ) and প্রত্যাহ্বান gives inspiration

d. Previously worked in Hyderabad in a KPO company and feels very strongly about the differences between Andhra Pradesh and Assam

e. Once met Narayana Murthy of Infosys. He told everyone knows that Assam is backward. But by only saying this every time we are bringing no fortune to Assam. If a change does not happen, Assam will remain the same backward. And that change will have to be pioneered by the youth. Avery inspiring and thoughtful which Mofid thinks changed his life and decision for coming back to Assam

f. Spoke about the first proposal for 108 service in Assam, how did he got involved , first training at Hyderabad, strange impression by other states people etc

g. Slowly work started, Electronic database of Assam is very little- worked very rigorously to make it done first time. Technical work also started one by one

h. Got so many challenges from Government offices, at first they were not even ready to give appointment to 108 guys. Also, the traditional welcome of any government office.

i. But things got changed gradually, same people above slowly started coming to them with proposals.

j. Had to work day and night, sometimes continuously for two days without sleeping.

k. প্রত্যাহ্বান will always come in life and we should have perseverance and never say die attitude.

l. Solutions for problems may be hard to find, might not be possible in a single time, but on 10^th attempt you will crack that.

m. Used the word প্রত্যাহ্বান minimum 40 times.

 

7. Guest Speech5 : The struggle, failure and success stories behind Assam Govt's recent decision to setup an engineering college in the district of Dhemaji- Mr Buljit Buragohain, PhD scholar, IIT Guwahati with his experience

a. Made a support base through internet, member of various Assam and NE centric group. 

b. Importance of technical education

c. Keeps the paper cut of all positive news and events, circulates them among people, even bought a scanner for the same purpose.

d. Met Tarun Gogoi in Guwahati and talked with him regarding the requirement of Engg college at Dhemaji

e. Had a strong connection with local media at Dhemaji who helped Buljit enormously to build a consensus for an Engg college demand.

f. How two times he got bad news from Assam Govt for the decision.

g. Closely worked with MLA from Dhemaji

h. Finally, a long waited decision by Govt of Assam.

i. Spoke about XOMIDHAN.ORG, and how students can be benefited by this.

j. Spoke a bit about XOBDO.ORG.

 

8. Guest Speech5 : Dr Siddhinath Sharma, the man behind the struggle to get Goalpara Engineering College sharing his journey and struggle

a. Originally from Darang district, came to Goalpara for job and now a proper Goalporiya. 

b. The profession of teaching is choice made by himself and very proud of that

c. Two failure stories before beginning the Engg college story----- tried to bring good educational institutes to Goalpara twice before in 92-93 and 97-98.Both times he failed to achieve the feat due to political and other issues

d. Lesson learnt from the first two failures—Don’t go through political roads.

e. Third attempt to bring Engg College, though avoided hard core political root, ensured the support from bureaucracy

f. Met local MLA and told about the plan and requested for no political overshadow

g. Time passed on and works from various quarters advanced; By Jan 2008, Goalpara was ready for hosting an Engineering College

h. Government procedures also advanced. Communications to Guwahati increased and Goalpara is just 2.5 hours of journey from Guwahati in a roads like outside India

i. Many shameful experiences- had to convince so many people, even some people from Goalpara itself wanted to pull this proposal back

j. Not an individual effort, mentioned the name of a few other people, including Dulal Ghosh, current MLA from Goalpara-East.

 

9. Manjit concluded by thanking all guest speakers and then handing over the stage to Mr Joychandra Nath, principal, Agia JNMHS School to conduct the panel discussion session.

10. Joychandra Nath mainly targeted students in his short speech, and as declared this session to be limited to only a few selected people due to want of time.

11. Mr Dilip Sharma, famous Artist and journalist shared his views on this initiative and need to positivity in society.

12. Mahesh Chandra Nath Retired Chief Engineer, Goalpara district talked about his experience attending last year’s inauguration ceremony and today’s one.

13. Bikramjit Nath, Settlor, MNM Trust, conducted the prize distribution ceremony for library readers. He mentioned MNM Library gives away three kind of prizes:

1. Highest book reader in every 4-month duration
2. Fastest century makers in reading books
3. The reader with highest number of referrals

14. Prizes were given away to 5 library readers.

15. Vote of thanks by Manjit Nath

16. Conclusion by Hiran Prova Devi.

Apologize for the long silence

First, I'd like to apologize for the long silence of almost a year. Some strong reasons made me do that, which later came to be completely stupid. Eventually I am thinking myself the stupid, and want to make the blog LIVE as soon as possible.

MNM Library is doing good, though our other exapansion plans are on hold. We are also trying to modify the 'Home Library Concept' a bit. Will write more on this in the days to come.

Let me begin with the minutes of meeting of our first anniversary celebration, held on 23rd May, 2010 in my immediate next blog.

Keep reading,

Regards,
Manjit Nath
MN Memorial Library
One wish, one dream and a realization

A Logical Halt of this blog

Hi all,
I have not written for quite a few days. First let me quickly summarize what went since I posted my last blog entry:

1. Presentation at NEIIM-2010 : The home library presentation during the Rural Development Session at NE India International Meet-2010 was a big success. The plenary session was attended by some of the prominent scientists, economists, politicians, journalists and social activists of my state. Everybody liked the slides; many asked me questions after the session, some willing to donate books and some wants to start a library. All went well.

2. Addition of new steel rack: The Library bought a new steel rack, designed specifically for book storing purpose. We did quite reshuffle of books -children books and adult books are on different racks, a few old magazines are eliminated etc.

3. Addition of 150+ books: We bought a few assamese classics from Guwahati Book Fair; A few people donated a number of books. So recently there was an addition of 100+ books to the library. In the donor list I must mention Sridhar Adapa (Dev Manager, Microsoft), Shwetal(Business Communication, Microsoft) and Mina Baideu(Social Activist, Agia).

4. SWARANG Library-on a halt: There seems to be some political issues with the orphanage where SWARANG library is supposed to be established. I myself visit Kokrajhar district and gave a presentation to the principal, but due to BTC election and different reasons the process is getting delayed. To add to that Dipak had to fly to Delhi- so all these reasons make SWARANG library is on halt for time being. I am feeling sad.

5. Trust Registration at Guwahati: Again in this legal case, there seems to be some knowledge gap between India Trust Act,1882 understanding and Nayandeep Nath, our advocate for the cause. The district level registration is already done though. However, I am taking charge of this issue, and will solve this in my next home visit.

6. CSIM Certification Course: To learn more about non-profit organization, I have joined a certification course at CSIM, Hyderabad. I have projected my home library concept there and it has been appreciated by different people. I am supposed to do a project here on the same concept. This will add tremendous value to the library concept.

7. "Share your journey with the society": I presented the Home Library Concept at the above mentioned initiative at Microsoft Campus, organized by 'Microsoft Hyderabad Social Service Group'. I and Somak unveiled the trust website first time to public.

8. Trust website is complete: All credit goes to Somak Bhattacharya- our site http://mnmtrust.org/ is ready and live. We have implemented AJAX for quick load of pages.

9. Cancellation of 2nd 4-monthly meet: We had planned but later forced to cancel second 4-monthly meet of the library owing to the growing tension of the Rabha Hasong movement at my place. Many people were killed in violence; we did postpone twice, ultimately decided to call it off.

10. First anniversary celebration: I am going home on 13th May to celebrate the first year of the library. Planning is on. Please give me suggestions, if you have any.



Logical Halt: Now, coming to the main point, as mentioned in the title line. First let me be clear that I am not halting the Home Library Expansion, but only this blog. There are two reasons:

A. After the site is up and we are twitting regularly with all the library and trust updates, maintaining this blog is adding redundancy to the activities. So, I am trying to bring efficiency here.

B. On personal front, I am on another goal of my life and have started a new blog to write down my experiences. So, I afraid I will not be able to give time to this one.

So, here we go - There will not be any new post in this blog, at least for a couple of months. But this is just a halt, we are planning to have a separate blog section in the trust website; Then this blog will be back again! And that time in a complete different form and outlook.

Keep waiting...till then, anyway, we are 0n http://mnmtrust.org/

Some real interesting updates

I am going home on 30th December,09 and I must mention some very nice things I am working on currently. All my friends at Microsoft and elsewhere are helping me immensely to accomplish these tasks. Here we go:

1. The home library framework : This will be a step-by-step framework which will adopted by anybody who wants to start a library at his/her native place. This will contains all the pre-requisites, timelines alongwith specific guidelines to follow to start the library and sustain it.

2. The presentation: I have got the opportunity to speak about the home library concept at NEIIM 2010 (http://www.neiim2010.com ), an international meet organized by FASS (http://friendsofassam.org ) as a speaker for the session on Rural Development on 12nd January,2010

3. The video shoot : My mother is coordinating for shooting some videos for the above presentation on 13th Dec, 09.

4. The Trust website: www.mnmtrust.org is on the way..

5. The News-Letter : The first newsletter for the library is on the way..

6. The advisor pool Concept : This is a big initiative to expand our reach. Also, an opportunity for any individual to devote his time and hope with community. Details are coming..

7. Session with other NGO/institute : There is a proposed environmental awareness campaign and free computer education program proposed in my home visit on 31st Dec, 09. I will publish detail later

8. Swaranag : Our second home library.Way to go.....

We are available at many places :
1. Join our community in ORKUT:
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community?cmm=96084928
2. Follow us in Twitter:
http://twitter.com/MNMemorialTrust


Siging off in a hurry,

Manjit Nath (ZING)

SWRANG....On the way

When I first started thinking about the home library, it was just a library in memory of my father. My thought process took a turn after attending the 'India Literacy Project' workshop at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. I started looking at the home library initiative as a concept which can be adopted anywhere in our country with a real need of reading. I sat with some of my well wishers in a brain-storming session and we decided on a mission and vision to work upon. One of our vision targets expansion of this concept beyond my place, Agia.

I am super excited to inform you about our second instance of home library. I have to introduce Dipak Basumatary here, a visionary budding social entrepreneur, currently an employee with IOT Design and Engineering (a joint venture of IOCL and OilTanking Gmbh) in Delhi. Deepak, who is also a year junior to me in engineering college, expressed his wish of opening a home library last August, 09. I was like, WoW!! This is an attempt by Dipak and his four friends to give back something to their community at Narabari, in Kokrajhar district, Assam.

SWRANG-- this is what we named the new library. Swrang in the Bodo language means 'the Morning Sunrise'. This will be registered under MN Memorial Trust with the same mission of  home library concept - “To create an interest for reading, provide access to resources and help people realize their true potential”.

I will be writing more about SWRANG and its visionaries in detail. Deepak is also starting a separate blog expressing his friends’ and his dreams and ambitions.

Current Status:

Deepak came to Hyderabad on 20th Nov,09 and we both decided on all the pre-requisites. Also, we met the design company http://www.notun.net , and finished the discussion related to branding. We will be meeting at Assam in the last week of December and we plan to launch the library by the first week of January,10.

I want to paste here the ''To-Do List" I sent to Deepak after our meeting. This will depict the current status of the second venture vividly:

"Hi Deepak,Here is the 'to do' list for you with deadline. Please try to stick to this. Also keep adding to this, if you feel need, but just don't delete anything.

• 1. Complete designing the library logo and send to Notun.net for final design          -26th Nov

• 2. Build one tagline for easy understanding if your library name does not contain the word 'Library'      -26th Nov

• 3. Start writing a dedicated blog only for the library; all of your founder friends can contribute      - 28th Nov

• 4. Decide the inauguration date       -1st Dec

• 5. Start thinking of the inauguration plan, guests to be invited, etc  -10 Dec

• 6. Define your initial scope- orphan home+how many schools, also calculate how many children are there in the whole area nearby which you are targeting-main idea is to find out how many people your library will affect    -28th Nov

• 7. Designing of a 1-2 pages leaflet for distributing about the cause, vision, background of the library    -15 Dec

• 8. Prepare a write-up about your initiative which you will be sharing with anyone whom you will approach. I’ll help you by sending the template     -3rd Dec

• 9. Find a PC in working condition    -22nd Dec

• 10. Gain knowledge about the local media there, VIPs and people’s general outlook towards reading    -22nd Dec

• 11. Preparation of Rubber Stamp    -22nd Dec

• 12. Start a communication thread with all the people who know about this project, want to help etc. This is very necessary to keep all of them updated   -26th Nov

• 13. Work on the resources who will help you and in what way when you will be at home and will be finalizing all the issues before library inauguration    -14th Dec

• 14. Complete the vision statement_it should be realistic and achievable   -1st Dec

• 15. Follow up with the NOTUN guys till the whole part is done, I will start that today -23rd Nov

• 16. Write your library name in Bodo script, and also anything else if you want to cover in branding in Bodo language -26th Nov

  17. Complete all the legal formalities for MN Memorial Trust, including opening of the bank Account    -2nd Jan, 10

Only these are coming to my mind as of now. I think its enough for you to start working .... All the best, don't get randomized, Main Hu Naa! "

The Purpose of this blog is just to inform you all about SWRANG. I will be publishing more updates. Also, I am exploring a few other mediums for communicating. Stay tuned !

Library Article on Microsoft One India Portal

Just want to share you the good news that this home library initiative has been featured in the weekly e-mail communication of Microsoft India. "Microsoft One India" is an internal portal to communicate out to all the six groups of Microsoft that are in India located in Bangaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. Their weekly e-mail communication has a section "We, The people", where they used to write about the extra-ordinary work carried out by Microsoft India employee(s). The edition published on September 2, 2009 featured the story - "A dream drives Manjit to set up a home library in a village in Assam "


I must thank Rebecca, Shashank,Shwetal and Nidarsana Ba from Microsoft Business Communication group for considering the initiative, interviewing me, writing up the whole story, reviewing with me and finally publishing out in the portal. Thank you very much !


This story has reached more than 5000 MS employees working in India, and till now the most commented article in the whole portal.This has also been shared with NGOs like ILP and HRF (on their requests)as the article boldly calls out their support in shaping the library dream.


Wish you a nice reading !






We, The People
A dream drives Manjit to set up a home library in a village in Assam



To dream is one thing and to realize it is another. It is only after relentless efforts that one can realize a dream. And when the dream is for the sole benefit of others, only effort doesn’t suffice; one needs to put in tremendous energy and innovation to make the dream a reality. Manjit Nath, an Operations Engineer with MSIT – India, tells you how dreams can be achieved.

It was Manjit’s dream to set up a home library for the people of his village in Assam. That was his way of giving back to the village what the village gave him during his formative years. The Maheswar Nath Memorial Library in the Agia village of Goalpara district is also Manjit’s tribute to his late father. The Library has 1850 books today and around 150 regular members. The village has no other library. For Manjit, it is “One wish, one dream, and a realization.”





The Dream
Manjit’s eyes light up when he speaks about the effort he put into the setting up of the library. He is blessed with a family of extremely well-read people. Even today, when he thinks of his father, Maheswar Nath, who was the Principal of the Balbala Higher Secondary School, he sees him immersed in books. Reading was his father’s passion - a passion that he tried to share with Manjit and everybody else in the village. As a child, Manjit read many books; but the one book that captured young Manjit’s imagination was Homen Borgohain’s Saudar Puteke Nao Meli Jai. The book is about two friends setting up a library in Assam during the British rule. “I picked up the idea from that book and soon, it became my dream,” says Manjit.
However, professional life took over and soon Manjit’s dream started slipping down the priority list. And one day, came the news that refueled the dream – the heartbreaking news of his father’s death. “I could not think of a more appropriate token of gratitude and love for my father than to encourage my people to read. It was my father’s wish – he always wanted the villagers to be well read. So, I decided to make my father’s reading room a library.”






The Journey
Other than reading, Manjit was also interested in reforming the education system in India. It was this interest that drove him to join the Indian Literacy Project (ILP). It is during this association that he learned more about library management. He started managing the ILP library in Hyderabad. Manjit was also part of the joint workshop organized by ISB and ILP. Manjit then held several brainstorming sessions on the library project with his friends at Microsoft. He had discussions with members of voluntary organizations that promote similar library initiatives such as Room2Read, Hippocampus Reading Foundation (HRF) etc. He also reached out to the Bhabendra Nath Saikia Foundation in Assam. The idea was not just of a library but that of a concept that can be adopted all over India.



Through his research, Manjit discovered that it takes more than just a stack of books to build a library. “Library management is a science actually,” says Manjit. There is a methodology around its promotion and infrastructure, categorization of the books, branding and so on. “I was getting bogged down by the enormity of the task but Krishna Priya GV, the librarian at the Hyderabad campus, came to my rescue. She taught me how to use different components of the library management software. I prepared the whole execution plan and my roommate, Alvaro, coded the software using Microsoft technologies. It is a feature-rich application that is easy to use. Now everybody, including my mother, is able to operate it with ease,” beams Manjit.

Manjit’s biggest challenge was something else though. “I work out of the Hyderabad campus. It was practically impossible to visit Assam often to set up the library,” he explained. So he started managing the home library activities remotely. He didn’t spend his vacations unwinding, but cataloguing the books and coordinating the necessary paperwork and formalities with the Government authorities.



“It was really challenging to fight the bureaucracy and set up a Public Trust to run a library. People tried to put a spanner in the works instead of helping us,” recalls Manjit. His older brother Bikramjit, an Indian Navy personnel, pitched in too. “Bikramda did a lot of running around with me.” And the brothers emerged triumphant.



Manjit inaugurated the home-library on June 1, 2009 - the first death anniversary of his father Late Maheswar Nath. The villagers and media appreciated the initiative. The initiative was written about in five leading Assamese dailies and two new channels ran a special coverage on the project. A big boost came in, in the form of a letter and a donation of about 100 books from the noted Assamese writer Homen Borgohain. Within a week of launch, the Maheswar Nath Memorial Library had over 70 registrations. To keep his readers interested, Manjit has introduced student concessions, prizes to voracious readers, debates, and essay-writing competitions.

Way Forward
The Trust is committed to the socio-economic development of the society with the home library as its first initiative. “The love of books and reading is a culture – I want to enable more people to read, provide them the necessary resources so that they can gain knowledge and realize their true potential. If our Library inspires each member to read at least five books a year – it will be an achievement,” says Manjit.He is now planning awareness and fund-raising campaigns, expansion of the library storehouse, inclusion of more self-help books, and inspire the like-minded to adopt this concept. Manjit has three concrete plans for 2009:

• Open a branch of the home library project in Kokrajhar district


• Target literate house-wives with lots of books /magazines of their taste


• Team up with three NGOs to work on the computer literacy and environmental awareness campaign

To know more about the Home Library initiative you can visit Manjit’s blog. To partake in his noble initiative please write in to Manjit. You can also donate books and/or funds to the ‘Maheswar Nath Memorial Trust’.

NB: I can't mention the web link here as 'Microsoft One India' is an internal portal and hosted on MS Corpnet,hence people from outside can't access the internal links