If you’re someone who dreams about reading books in quaint and scenic cottagecore villages, boy do we have news for you! Aragam Village in the district of Bandipora in Kashmir is all set to become a book village! Sounds like your Studio Ghibli dreams might finally come true! The efforts are being taken by the government of Jammu and Kashmir and a non-governmental organisation based in Pune. Here is everything you need to know about this.
Kashmir’s Aragam To Become India’s Largest Book Village
The Aragam village in Kashmir is all set to become the largest book village in the country. Owing to the ongoing efforts made by a Pune-based NGO called Sarhad, in partnership with the government of Jammu and Kashmir, this dream may soon be a reality.
Sarhad has submitted a proposal to the district administration detailing the nitty-gritty of the book village. According to reports so far, the book village will have two major qualifying components.
The first is a library building which will house a plethora of books ranging from fiction to non-fiction. Apart from the main building, there will also be a community hall of sorts which will witness routine programs related to all thing literature.
The piece-de-resistance of the village is that around 400 houses, too, will house books in nearly six languages. These houses will be responsible for the upkeep of the books as per the instructions and the guidelines provided by the NGO.
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What Are These Biblio-Towns?
If the term Book Village or Town is new to you, here’s what they are. Book towns are places that are dedicated to all things books and literature. This means that in such towns, there are multiple bookstores selling antique and old books.
The telos behind making Aragam a book village is to preserve and proliferate Kashmiri literature and history. Officials are hopeful that this move will increase the number of intellectuals that visit the state.
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Are you excited about this development and would this make Kashmir a more attractive destination for you? Let us know in the comments below!
Cover Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons