Every story starts somewhere, while some may argue that the key to a good tale lies in imagination. The truth is that more often than not the true basis for a compelling story comes from a memory and then what are libraries if not repositories of memory? But these belong to the lucky few, those who had the capability to pen down their years of experiences and preserve them for future generations, for every book you pick up, there are a million stories being left untold.
Harshad Fad, the founder of Hyderabad’s ‘Human Library’ recognised this problem and devised method to fix it. At this library, you can browse the titles and if a topic catches your eye, you can ‘check out’ the human to whom the story belongs. For twenty minutes you are invited to share in their memories and interact with your human book. Harshad was inspired by a similar venture in Copanhagen, started by Ronni Abergel as part of the movement ‘Stop the Violence’. They realised that if people had the opportunity to explore and interact with people from different backgrounds, inherent biases and prejudices would melt away.
The first ‘Human Book’ event was held in November 2016 at the IIM Indore campus and although they had a small selection of ‘books’ they were met with an enthusiastic response. Part of the cause for this was the carefully curated stories they put out, diverse and engaging people were exposed to worlds they had never dreamed of. Among the available interactions were A Man’s Journey to the Epitome of Grace: The story of a male dancer who had to pose as a woman to pursue his passion, Life in Olive Green, the tales of a lifelong military man. Sexual and domestic abuse survivors, members of the LGBT community, every story found representation and readers found solace in the shared experiences.
Today with 21 ‘books’ from every conceivable background they head out for another event in Hyderabad. So even if you take half an hour out of your day and head down to the ‘Human Library’ you’re guaranteed to leave with so much more than you could get from a real book, you’ll leave with a memory.
Date: 22nd of April
Location: British Council, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
Time: 2.20 pm to 7.00 pm