He was hired as a gardener in a north Kolkata park but Satyaranjan Dolai did not confine himself to tending the flowers. One book at a time, he built an entire library there.
He bought books out of his own meagre income and urged visitors to donate books.
The library at Jagat Mukherjee Park, off Central Avenue, which began with a few magazines that Dolai purchased in 2011, now has several thousand books and magazines, many of them contributed by people impressed by his idea of having an open library in a park.
On Saturday, Dolai, 53, won the Thank You Bondhu Award at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence for contributing to education. The award, constituted this year, is to honour people who are neither teachers nor students but have helped the cause of education.
“I was posted in the park in 2010. While working as a gardener there during the initial few months, I came to know many regular visitors. I had a lot of free time, too, after my work,” said Dolai, a contractual employee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The idea of setting up a library came to Dolai when he saw that parents of kids studying in schools in the area used to spend a considerable time in the park every day.
“Shyambazar AV School, Sailendara Sarkar School and Giribala Sarkar Balika Vidyalaya are close to this park. Parents of students in these schools spend a lot of time here. They had nothing to do during this free time. I thought about creating an opportunity for them to read instead of sitting idle in the park,” he said.
“Initially, I purchased a few magazines and kept them in the park. I found people came and started reading.”
As people saw a reading library being set up, they started to contribute. Over the years, a bookshelf was built.
The library hours are the same as the hours of the park — 5am to 9pm.
The local councillor helped Dolai in his pursuit.
Dolai’s wife is an Anganwadi worker. The couple have a daughter and a son.