Human Library

On one of my first few days in college, I got to check a thing off my bucket list- to experience a human library. Sounds new, right? Imagine walking into a hall, where there are several aisles, all with not books stacked on shelves but with people sitting on tables, over a cup of coffee, waiting to share their story. The concept of human library, very beautifully, emerges at the junction between poetry and realism; it sounds very poetic when we say ‘if you can’t write a poem, become one’ and not real.

But tell me if a human library doesn’t shape you into story. Personally, a human book interests me more because you get a more authentic first hand story with facial expressions accompanying voice intonations and hand gestures perfectly aligning with the contraction and expansion of eyeballs.

My first human library experience was in an 8 o’clock class, though, where I walked up till the third floor, to sit among a group of people against whom I held certain biases (judged the book by their covers!) to be given only a very limited amount of time. We were given a short span to recollect and choose a story that we’d be sharing with our fellow classmates  books, and in that moment I realised that we’re all just a bunch of stories stitched together. The only (and quite significant) difference lies in the genres.

The first story titled ‘Running to the Roots’ talked of how she loved her name that helps her navigate her way in life. It reminds her of anchors stemming from our Indian traditional system. She confessed how it upsets her that the youth doesn’t take pride in their roots.

In other two stories I learned that they value their families more than their friends. They’d choose spending time with family over friends at any point in time. They admitted that their families have stood by them when their friends weren’t there.

However, the most interesting story that I came across was one rather philosophical. This spectacled book, very spectacularly presented its not-so-ordinary story in a very organised way. Sports for him was a channel for his expressions. Talking of friends, he said he valued people who help him grow. Some parts of his narrative were too highbrow-ed to be understood, though.

To sum it up, a human library was wayyyy better than a regular one, partly because it was a new concept and partly because I’d prefer humans over books anytime. I wondered that day, if people read with as rapt attention as they listened.