Bookworms of the world, listen up! On a recent family trip to Mahabaleshwar, I had the fortune of visiting Bhilar, India's first village of books. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? So I am going to do a bilingual Twitter thread to show what is a books village after all.
Hi! Today, May 4, marks completion of an year since Bhilar, India's first books village was thrown up to public in Mahabaleshwar, Satara district.
नमस्कार. आज, ४ मे. एका वर्षा पूर्वी, भारतातील पहिले पुस्तकांचे गाँव, भिलार, (ता. महाबळेश्वर, जि.सातारा), याचे लोकार्पण झाले.
Located in #WesternGhats between Maharashtra's top hill stations #Mahabaleshwar and #Panchgani in Satara district, it was conceptualised by Marathi language department.
भिलार हे महाबळेश्वर आणि पाचगणी च्या मधे वसलेले गाव. प्रकल्पाची संकल्पना मराठी भाषा विभागाची होती.
A village near a popular tourist destination was chosen due to high footfall and accomodations; where minimum of 20 homes could offer space.
राज्यातील प्रसिद्ध पर्यटनस्थळ जवळ असलेले गाव जिथे किमान २० घरांचे मालक स्वेच्छेने सहभागी होत होते, असे गाव निवडले.
Villagers in Bhilar voluntarily offered parts of their homes to house books, free of charge
प्रकल्पात सहभागी घरे विनाशुल्क जागा उपलब्ध करून देत आहेत.
The books are housed as per categories in homes, lodges, schools, shops, temples across a total of 25 places.
घरे, लॉज, शाळा, मंदिरे अश्या २५ सार्वजनिक व खासगी ठिकाणी पुस्तकांची विविध प्रकारांची दालने आहेत.
Currently, there are 15,000 Marathi books housed in this village where you can sit, read the whole day. You cannot take away books but they are sold.
सध्या गावात १५,००० मराठी पुस्तके आहेत. आपण जाऊन, निवांत दिवसभर वाचू शकता. पुस्तके न्यायची सोय नाही पण विकत घेऊ शकता.
Popular fiction, novels, poems, history, literature on social reformers and Ambedkar, Dyanpeeth and Sahitya Akademi literature is available.
लोकसाहित्य, इतिहास, शिवकालीन इतिहास, कादंबरी, कथा, कविता, स्त्री साहित्य, ज्ञानपीठ आणि साहित्य अकादमी विजेते आदी साहित्य प्रकार आहेत.
Soon, they will add English and Hindi books. Even you can donate books to the village.
लवकरच इंग्रजी आणि हिंदी पुस्तकं ठेवण्यात येतील आणि आपणही गावाला पुस्तके भेट देऊ शकता.
Bonus tweet. The breathtaking Mahabaleshwar valley, origin of the east flowing Krishna nadi. #Bhilar #भिलार #मराठी #महाराष्ट्र
Cc: @TawdeVinod @Dev_Fadnavis
Thank you everyone for the tremendous response and spreading the word about #Bhilar.
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