[Applause]
mr. and mrs. Dursley of number four
privet drive we’re very proud to say
that they were perfectly normal thank
you very much
how many of you know what I’m referring
to
ladies and gentlemen a very good
afternoon to all as a kid I used to love
reading Harry Potter was of course one
of my best ones but it wasn’t just Harry
Potter I used to love spending days and
days lost in the world of dragons and
riders in the magic Wars they all fight
cousins getting together in a
countryside and going off on adventures
I new kid an island and the famous five
countryside better than my own home and
neighborhood at one point Swami and his
friends and all the mischief they used
to get to the brilliant quadriplegic
solving crimes that baffles the NYPD I
used to love all of it some of these
characters were my best friends growing
up and even today when I pick up these
books they bring back feelings of warmth
and joy but then came college and
somehow suddenly I just did not have
time to spend with these friends anymore
I kept trying but there was always just
one more assignment to complete one more
paper to write one more exam to prep for
it was at this time that one of my
friends need noil he told me about a
volunteering event he attended for kids
at a shelter home nearby he told me how
he met a little girl named and there who
talked about how she loved reading but
she did not have too many books with her
now that caught my attention and I said
if she loves reading we should make it
happen for her I knew I had a few of my
old childhood books at home I could
probably give those to her and there are
plenty of people who are in the same
situation so we spoke to another friend
of mine identity both of us went home we
dug out our old books and we brought
them to Noel Noel took those to Anne
now Noah came back and told us how when
he handed those books to Anne
her face lit up with the biggest smile
that he’d ever seen that brought a smile
to our faces
and then he looked us straight in the
eye and said you know those books that
you just gave and you just changed her
world and that hit us a couple of days
later we met up again this time to voice
the one question that was in all of our
minds can we do this again and that was
how storytime was born the idea was
simple most households have a box tucked
away somewhere full of old books that
kids don’t read anymore
they lie there unused and collecting
dust on the other hand 40% of public
schools in India do not even have a
library forget about how well-stocked or
functional they are our idea was simply
to bridge the gap between the two we use
these old books to set up libraries and
reading spaces in schools that require
them you see all three of us we grew up
with a love for reading and what we
wanted to ensure was that as many
children as possible get to experience
the same loss and so we set off talking
to people about it and about five to six
of us were soon huddled around a coffee
table trying to figure out a plan of
action step one and what we figured was
the easiest was to collect these
storybooks the first few weeks were
filled with energy we went about
spreading the word everywhere among our
friends our social circle in our College
we created a Facebook page a website we
created forward messages and then we
waited a couple of weeks later we
realized this was not going to work out
most college students stay in hostels or
away from home and they don’t have
access to their childhood books and
those who did the books weren’t in good
enough condition to be used in
library so that plan failed and that’s
when we saw an ad for an international
book fest happening in the city
so immediately called up the organizers
and begged for some stall space and
there we stood the whole day talking to
everyone who was coming and going
telling them about our idea but apart
from a lot of verbal appreciation we
didn’t get any solid leads there either
most people had travelled such long
distance distance is to attend the fest
and asking them to make that same trip
again to drop off a few books was not
practical right now looking back on all
that we tried out our mistakes are
obvious to us but back then or we felt
was dejection that we were trying so
many things but nothing seemed to be
working out but we were not ready to
give up yet and that’s when the next
brain wave hit us what’s a better source
for children’s books then children
themselves and that’s how we found
ourselves standing in front of the
principal of a large private school in
the city telling her about her idea and
asking if we could talk to high school
students about donating their books it
was easy enough for these students to go
back home because books that they don’t
read anymore put them in their bag and
bring them in and that’s how in a few
weeks we had with us 300 to 400 books
all of great quality all in perfect
condition all ready for another library
and so came step to find a school to set
up the library there was a government
primary school nearby that did not have
a library when we spoke to them the
teachers and the principal they were
very happy with what we were proposing
but then came the next challenge where
do we set up the library the school
agreed to give us an unused classroom
for this so that took care of a room and
chairs and tables for children to sit at
but we still needed shelves to keep the
books on and for that we needed money we
were college students we didn’t have
money
so then we again turn to our friends and
our social circle again now something we
learnt early on is that everyone wants
to help everyone wants to do good but if
it comes at a steep expense to
themselves that’s when everyone
hesitates so we didn’t ask anyone for
large amounts of money or to sponsor an
entire shelf we asked a large number of
people for small amounts of money
sometimes we’re collecting even loose
change but soon we had enough money to
buy ourselves one steel bookshelf so
with all of that we went to the school
spent an entire day assembling the
shelves standing it upright arranging
the books with whatever naive intuition
that we had and at the end of the day
there it was one single bookshelf in the
corner of an old classroom that would
henceforth be the school library now
this first project took us about four or
five months to complete that was biggest
mainly because of our lack of experience
and knowledge in dealing with anything
of the sort and at that time we had no
intention of taking it even beyond this
one project that day after we were done
and the students came in to check this
library out when we saw the excitement
on their faces as they began exploring
all these new books the happiness with
which they began comparing the books
that they had all the giggles and the
laughter in the air the rapt attention
they paid to us as we started telling
them about reading and storybooks the
feeling that those faces invoked in us
that’s when we knew that we had stumbled
upon an idea that we weren’t going to be
done with anytime soon today
storytime is an international network of
volunteers whose joint efforts over the
last three years has taken us across six
states in India setting up 23 libraries
utilising over 13 thousand books
all of this started off with that one
small thought that sparked of an idea
back in college we started off with just
donating used books to schools but from
there we started working with schools
that already have libraries but are not
being used this was largely because
these libraries were old dark and dingy
rooms with dusty books on the shelves
these some of these books have been
sitting on the shelves longer than some
of the students had been attending
school so we started working with the
school not only to replace the books
with newer children’s books but also to
revamp the appearance of the place
itself in some cases we ourselves took
to painting the walls and shelves
unleashing all of our artistic skills
onto those in some cases we redid the
lighting the flooring the furniture
everything to make that space more
welcome and attractive to students in
some of these projects we’ve implemented
some pretty crazy ideas as well for
example there was a school in Chennai
where the students themselves were very
involved with the design of the library
and they told us that they wanted
beanbags in their library we did not
have funds for so many beanbags so
staying true to our motive of creating
low-cost reading spaces we converted old
double axel t-shirts into bean bags for
children by stuffing them with scrap
cloth and world’s newspapers recently in
a project in Bangalore where we were
struggling with finding sufficient floor
space for a large number of children we
used a sort of stack seating arrangement
with old tires and a rope mesh in the
center to accommodate all the children
from there we again started questioning
ourselves is it enough to just ensure
that a library is there or that it’s
attractive and usable by children once
that initial fascination wears off what
happens next how do you bring about a
sustained love for reading in children
who until now have associated reading
which is studies and exams how do you
show them the absolute joy a book can
bring you the way a good book can
transport you to places and that’s how
we started developing reading activities
and library events to supplement the
schools that way we have already set of
libraries from read aloud days where we
pick a book from their library read it
talk to them and enact it in front of
them to show what fun actually lies
within these pages – a program called
reading bodies where we bring together
students of different backgrounds and
reading levels they spend an entire day
together reading a book together and
interacting with each other
currently we’re also working with our
partner organizations to develop library
plans that can be incorporated by
teachers easily into their regular
lessons today by virtue of libraries and
such project storytime has a presence in
cities across India such as Cochin
Trivandrum Chennai Mumbai Delhi
Hyderabad char and Orissa a network
consists of volunteers and individuals
from the u.s. from Singapore Dubai
Shahji apart from the multiple IT
professionals college students teachers
and architects from within India itself
and started off with this that simple
idea everyone wants to change the world
storytimes no different we want to
revolutionize the way education happens
the way reading is perceived across the
world we want to spread the joy of
reading as we know it to the whole world
but you see changing the world it’s not
an easy thing to do it doesn’t happen
overnight
it doesn’t happen over weeks or even a
year or two it takes long hours of
dedication and passion and pure hard
work to even start on the path of
changing the world and this path can get
so difficult sometimes there are so many
ups and downs so many challenges and
even failures and it can be so hard
not give up I’ve come close to just
giving up on this many times when I get
tired and I think I should just save my
energy and time for work and for studies
when I get frustrated thinking it’s been
so many years and storytime still hasn’t
changed the world we haven’t
revolutionized the way education happens
reading happens or anything of that sort
but then a few memories surface the
wonder in the eyes of this children at
that first project that we did the
enthusiasm on the faces of kids in
Chennai as they poured their hearts and
souls into the school library
heartwarming letters from a student in
char card where we had sent storybooks
to the way children participated in a
read aloud program and then all these
memories remind me once more of our
starting point a smile on Anne’s face
and the knowledge that we changed her
world and that’s when I realize again
yes
story time has not changed the world but
we have changed the worlds of a number
of students across the country students
who until now would have gone through
the whole school life thinking of
reading as just a means of studying who
would have known just that textbooks and
school books now today know that there
is another world out there they have a
short and exploring another method of
learning of expanding their horizons
their lives have been changed one story
book at a time we all know today what we
think is wrong with the world we all
have our ideas as to how to change the
world
and we also know that it’s difficult but
if your idea can impact the life of a
hundred people or ten people or even one
person
then that’s an idea that should be put
into action that should be followed up
on no matter how impossible you think
your idea is you will find a workaround
for it no matter how crazy you think
your idea is you will find people who
think exactly like you and support you
and no matter how small on its
significant you think your idea is it
will impact the life and world of at
least one other person and that is worth
everything that you can give it thank
you
[Applause]
mr. and mrs. Dursley of number four
privet drive we’re very proud to say
that they were perfectly normal thank
you very much
how many of you know what I’m referring
to
ladies and gentlemen a very good
afternoon to all as a kid I used to love
reading Harry Potter was of course one
of my best ones but it wasn’t just Harry
Potter I used to love spending days and
days lost in the world of dragons and
riders in the magic Wars they all fight
cousins getting together in a
countryside and going off on adventures
I new kid an island and the famous five
countryside better than my own home and
neighborhood at one point Swami and his
friends and all the mischief they used
to get to the brilliant quadriplegic
solving crimes that baffles the NYPD I
used to love all of it some of these
characters were my best friends growing
up and even today when I pick up these
books they bring back feelings of warmth
and joy but then came college and
somehow suddenly I just did not have
time to spend with these friends anymore
I kept trying but there was always just
one more assignment to complete one more
paper to write one more exam to prep for
it was at this time that one of my
friends need noil he told me about a
volunteering event he attended for kids
at a shelter home nearby he told me how
he met a little girl named and there who
talked about how she loved reading but
she did not have too many books with her
now that caught my attention and I said
if she loves reading we should make it
happen for her I knew I had a few of my
old childhood books at home I could
probably give those to her and there are
plenty of people who are in the same
situation so we spoke to another friend
of mine identity both of us went home we
dug out our old books and we brought
them to Noel Noel took those to Anne
now Noah came back and told us how when
he handed those books to Anne
her face lit up with the biggest smile
that he’d ever seen that brought a smile
to our faces
and then he looked us straight in the
eye and said you know those books that
you just gave and you just changed her
world and that hit us a couple of days
later we met up again this time to voice
the one question that was in all of our
minds can we do this again and that was
how storytime was born the idea was
simple most households have a box tucked
away somewhere full of old books that
kids don’t read anymore
they lie there unused and collecting
dust on the other hand 40% of public
schools in India do not even have a
library forget about how well-stocked or
functional they are our idea was simply
to bridge the gap between the two we use
these old books to set up libraries and
reading spaces in schools that require
them you see all three of us we grew up
with a love for reading and what we
wanted to ensure was that as many
children as possible get to experience
the same loss and so we set off talking
to people about it and about five to six
of us were soon huddled around a coffee
table trying to figure out a plan of
action step one and what we figured was
the easiest was to collect these
storybooks the first few weeks were
filled with energy we went about
spreading the word everywhere among our
friends our social circle in our College
we created a Facebook page a website we
created forward messages and then we
waited a couple of weeks later we
realized this was not going to work out
most college students stay in hostels or
away from home and they don’t have
access to their childhood books and
those who did the books weren’t in good
enough condition to be used in
library so that plan failed and that’s
when we saw an ad for an international
book fest happening in the city
so immediately called up the organizers
and begged for some stall space and
there we stood the whole day talking to
everyone who was coming and going
telling them about our idea but apart
from a lot of verbal appreciation we
didn’t get any solid leads there either
most people had travelled such long
distance distance is to attend the fest
and asking them to make that same trip
again to drop off a few books was not
practical right now looking back on all
that we tried out our mistakes are
obvious to us but back then or we felt
was dejection that we were trying so
many things but nothing seemed to be
working out but we were not ready to
give up yet and that’s when the next
brain wave hit us what’s a better source
for children’s books then children
themselves and that’s how we found
ourselves standing in front of the
principal of a large private school in
the city telling her about her idea and
asking if we could talk to high school
students about donating their books it
was easy enough for these students to go
back home because books that they don’t
read anymore put them in their bag and
bring them in and that’s how in a few
weeks we had with us 300 to 400 books
all of great quality all in perfect
condition all ready for another library
and so came step to find a school to set
up the library there was a government
primary school nearby that did not have
a library when we spoke to them the
teachers and the principal they were
very happy with what we were proposing
but then came the next challenge where
do we set up the library the school
agreed to give us an unused classroom
for this so that took care of a room and
chairs and tables for children to sit at
but we still needed shelves to keep the
books on and for that we needed money we
were college students we didn’t have
money
so then we again turn to our friends and
our social circle again now something we
learnt early on is that everyone wants
to help everyone wants to do good but if
it comes at a steep expense to
themselves that’s when everyone
hesitates so we didn’t ask anyone for
large amounts of money or to sponsor an
entire shelf we asked a large number of
people for small amounts of money
sometimes we’re collecting even loose
change but soon we had enough money to
buy ourselves one steel bookshelf so
with all of that we went to the school
spent an entire day assembling the
shelves standing it upright arranging
the books with whatever naive intuition
that we had and at the end of the day
there it was one single bookshelf in the
corner of an old classroom that would
henceforth be the school library now
this first project took us about four or
five months to complete that was biggest
mainly because of our lack of experience
and knowledge in dealing with anything
of the sort and at that time we had no
intention of taking it even beyond this
one project that day after we were done
and the students came in to check this
library out when we saw the excitement
on their faces as they began exploring
all these new books the happiness with
which they began comparing the books
that they had all the giggles and the
laughter in the air the rapt attention
they paid to us as we started telling
them about reading and storybooks the
feeling that those faces invoked in us
that’s when we knew that we had stumbled
upon an idea that we weren’t going to be
done with anytime soon today
storytime is an international network of
volunteers whose joint efforts over the
last three years has taken us across six
states in India setting up 23 libraries
utilising over 13 thousand books
all of this started off with that one
small thought that sparked of an idea
back in college we started off with just
donating used books to schools but from
there we started working with schools
that already have libraries but are not
being used this was largely because
these libraries were old dark and dingy
rooms with dusty books on the shelves
these some of these books have been
sitting on the shelves longer than some
of the students had been attending
school so we started working with the
school not only to replace the books
with newer children’s books but also to
revamp the appearance of the place
itself in some cases we ourselves took
to painting the walls and shelves
unleashing all of our artistic skills
onto those in some cases we redid the
lighting the flooring the furniture
everything to make that space more
welcome and attractive to students in
some of these projects we’ve implemented
some pretty crazy ideas as well for
example there was a school in Chennai
where the students themselves were very
involved with the design of the library
and they told us that they wanted
beanbags in their library we did not
have funds for so many beanbags so
staying true to our motive of creating
low-cost reading spaces we converted old
double axel t-shirts into bean bags for
children by stuffing them with scrap
cloth and world’s newspapers recently in
a project in Bangalore where we were
struggling with finding sufficient floor
space for a large number of children we
used a sort of stack seating arrangement
with old tires and a rope mesh in the
center to accommodate all the children
from there we again started questioning
ourselves is it enough to just ensure
that a library is there or that it’s
attractive and usable by children once
that initial fascination wears off what
happens next how do you bring about a
sustained love for reading in children
who until now have associated reading
which is studies and exams how do you
show them the absolute joy a book can
bring you the way a good book can
transport you to places and that’s how
we started developing reading activities
and library events to supplement the
schools that way we have already set of
libraries from read aloud days where we
pick a book from their library read it
talk to them and enact it in front of
them to show what fun actually lies
within these pages – a program called
reading bodies where we bring together
students of different backgrounds and
reading levels they spend an entire day
together reading a book together and
interacting with each other
currently we’re also working with our
partner organizations to develop library
plans that can be incorporated by
teachers easily into their regular
lessons today by virtue of libraries and
such project storytime has a presence in
cities across India such as Cochin
Trivandrum Chennai Mumbai Delhi
Hyderabad char and Orissa a network
consists of volunteers and individuals
from the u.s. from Singapore Dubai
Shahji apart from the multiple IT
professionals college students teachers
and architects from within India itself
and started off with this that simple
idea everyone wants to change the world
storytimes no different we want to
revolutionize the way education happens
the way reading is perceived across the
world we want to spread the joy of
reading as we know it to the whole world
but you see changing the world it’s not
an easy thing to do it doesn’t happen
overnight
it doesn’t happen over weeks or even a
year or two it takes long hours of
dedication and passion and pure hard
work to even start on the path of
changing the world and this path can get
so difficult sometimes there are so many
ups and downs so many challenges and
even failures and it can be so hard
not give up I’ve come close to just
giving up on this many times when I get
tired and I think I should just save my
energy and time for work and for studies
when I get frustrated thinking it’s been
so many years and storytime still hasn’t
changed the world we haven’t
revolutionized the way education happens
reading happens or anything of that sort
but then a few memories surface the
wonder in the eyes of this children at
that first project that we did the
enthusiasm on the faces of kids in
Chennai as they poured their hearts and
souls into the school library
heartwarming letters from a student in
char card where we had sent storybooks
to the way children participated in a
read aloud program and then all these
memories remind me once more of our
starting point a smile on Anne’s face
and the knowledge that we changed her
world and that’s when I realize again
yes
story time has not changed the world but
we have changed the worlds of a number
of students across the country students
who until now would have gone through
the whole school life thinking of
reading as just a means of studying who
would have known just that textbooks and
school books now today know that there
is another world out there they have a
short and exploring another method of
learning of expanding their horizons
their lives have been changed one story
book at a time we all know today what we
think is wrong with the world we all
have our ideas as to how to change the
world
and we also know that it’s difficult but
if your idea can impact the life of a
hundred people or ten people or even one
person
then that’s an idea that should be put
into action that should be followed up
on no matter how impossible you think
your idea is you will find a workaround
for it no matter how crazy you think
your idea is you will find people who
think exactly like you and support you
and no matter how small on its
significant you think your idea is it
will impact the life and world of at
least one other person and that is worth
everything that you can give it thank
you
[Applause]
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