Tomoe Express - 2

The most difficult task of finding the physical space was over which gave us a huge sigh of relief! There was absolutely no major support from the village in identification of space. We relied upon one resident of the village who is known to us for years and he was helpful throughout. 

As soon as this first step was achieved, the rest fell in place. Purchase of books, shelves and mats were the following steps and were quite a smooth sailing. The books were purchased from various children publications, sought help from children authors and they were registered promptly before shelving. There were a couple of friends who contributed to the purchase of books and mats. 

Though we were open to using old books too, we did not get many until the inauguration of the event. Therefore, almost all of the books are new. Those that we received later are now stocked and getting registered for the next Tomoe library (likely to happen before June 2022). Along with the above mentioned items, fans, tube lights and focus lights were bought to make this tiny space as bright and airy as possible.

Well, how do we attract children to a space known to them as dull, unused and had alcohol bottles everywhere? Additionally, books don't attract children easily. We then decided to make the place attractive with colours and wall paintings. We were lucky to find a student-artist who did those outer walls and Tomoe express for half the price he would normally charge!! 

Towards the completion of his work, I regretted for not involving a neighbour kid (10 year old) who has is passionate about painting. I felt that it would have been nice if I had asked her to draw a Buddha for us, as almost all walls are old and look not so great. But did not try. Yet, in a couple of days her mother shared that the kid wanted to paint something as she got inspired by the outer wall painting we shared on WhatsApp. I immediately requested her to draw a Buddha for us and she did. This is her first ever wall painting! 

Why did I say Buddha when she was better at painting natural sceneries!!!??? The Universe gave me an answer later!

To be continued... 💝