Every evening at Ahmedabad’s Parimal Garden, people gather for different reasons. Some arrive for long walks after work. Children run across pathways with cricket bats in hand, while elderly residents settle onto benches beneath old trees. Amid the movement and chatter sits a small wooden cabinet lined with books, drawing people towards it.
A child pauses to pull out a comic book. An elderly man carefully flips through a novel before placing it back. A college student stands there reading for nearly twenty minutes before leaving with a paperback tucked under his arm. Nobody monitors the shelves. There are no membership cards, fines, or formal procedures. The library functions entirely on trust.
The idea came from Ahmedabad-based friends Heet Doshi and Om Thakkar when they were still college students. Through their reading community, ‘Your Reading Circle’, the duo began setting up free mini libraries in public parks to make books more accessible.
What started with one library at Parimal Garden in June 2024 has now grown into 13 libraries across Ahmedabad and Vadodara, with three more set to open soon. In March 2026, they also registered an NGO called ‘Virakt Foundation’ to expand the initiative further.
For Heet, the journey began with a small observation.
“We realised there were a lot of people who loved reading, but there were very few places where readers could actually meet each other and share that interest,” he says.
The duo started Your Reading Circle in Ahmedabad in September 2023. The group brought together people who enjoyed books but lacked spaces to discuss them outside social media or academic settings. The founders had no larger plans at the time. They just wanted to create a reading culture around them.
Then they came across a social media reel about Perumkulam in Kerala, where libraries are spread across the settlement every few hundred metres.
“That idea stayed with us for a long time,” Heet tells The Better India. “We kept thinking that if a village in India could create something like that, why couldn’t we try doing it in Ahmedabad?”
A small bookshelf, and weeks of figuring out permissions
In April 2024, the two friends began discussing how they could set up a small public library inside a city park. They made a basic list of what they would need: permissions, funding, fabrication and books.
The duo started Your Reading Circle in Ahmedabad in September 2023.
What they did not anticipate was how difficult the permission process would become.
“The biggest challenge was understanding where to even go because nobody had dealt with something like this before, so we found ourselves visiting multiple departments just to figure out who could actually give us permission,” he says.
The team spent weeks moving from one office to another. Some officials redirected them elsewhere, while others were unsure which department held the authority to approve a library inside a public garden.
“It sounds like a very small thing when you say you want to place a library in a park,” he adds. “But practically, it takes a lot of patience.”
Eventually, after several follow-ups and discussions, the team received permission to install their first mini library at Parimal Garden, one of Ahmedabad’s busiest public spaces. On 23 June 2024, the first library officially opened to the public.
Initially, the founders approached it as an experiment rather than a large project. “We just wanted to make one library and see how people reacted to it,” says the co-founder.
The response came almost immediately.
Children began gathering around the shelves after finishing their games. Elderly residents stopped to browse through books during their evening walks. Some visitors borrowed books and returned days later, carrying another one from home. The system worked on a straightforward principle. Anyone could take a book as long as they contributed one in return.
“The public mini-library runs entirely on trust,” he explains. “People take a book, people keep a book. That is how we started, and that is how it still works.”
The founders were fully prepared for books to disappear or the shelves to remain empty after a few weeks. Instead, they witnessed complete strangers voluntarily maintaining the libraries. “There were people we didn’t even know who started cleaning the shelves or arranging books properly,” he adds. “Some of them told us they regularly visited the library just to maintain it.”
Those moments reassured the team that the idea could survive beyond their direct involvement.
Why parks became the chosen space
As the libraries began attracting attention online, many people asked why the founders specifically chose parks and gardens instead of railway stations or bus stops. For Heet, the answer was always linked to the atmosphere of these spaces.
“A park is a place where people naturally slow down, spend time with family, sit in silence, and relax, so we felt reading would fit very naturally into that environment,” he says.
The founders also noticed that many visitors spent long stretches scrolling through phones while sitting outdoors. “We wanted to create another option,” he explains. “If somebody spends even ten minutes reading instead of being on their phone, that itself matters.”
Today, the team has installed 11 libraries across Ahmedabad and two in Vadodara. Two more are being prepared in Vadodara and another in Ahmedabad.
One particularly memorable moment came shortly after they opened a library at Kamati Baug in Vadodara. Within two days, almost all the books had disappeared from the shelves. “We were honestly disappointed because within two days the shelves had become empty, and we thought people had taken the books away and that the library probably would not work in this place,” he admits.
A week later, a local social media page featured the library. Residents began discussing it online and promising to donate books. Soon afterwards, one of the team’s volunteers visited the site and sent them a photograph.
The shelves were full again.
“We had not added any books ourselves,” he says. “The people of Vadodara had filled the library back up.”
What it takes to start a public library in your city
Over the past year, Heet and Om have received messages from people across India asking how they can create similar public libraries in their own cities. Having gone through the process themselves, the founders now openly share the steps they believe are most important.
1. Begin with permissions before anything else
According to Heet, the first step is approaching the municipal corporation and the city’s garden department directly.
“Do not begin by building the structure because permissions take the longest time, so the first thing people should focus on is getting approval from the authorities,” he says.
In April 2024, the two friends began discussing how they could set up a small public library inside a city park.
He advises preparing a simple proposal that lays out the idea clearly. The document should include the size of the library, where it will be installed, whether it will remain open or locked, how maintenance will happen, and who will manage it.
“They mainly want to understand whether you can responsibly maintain the library,” he adds. He also believes approaching senior officials directly can speed up the process considerably.
“If the message reaches the higher authorities, the process becomes smoother,” he explains.
2. Start with the people who already love books
Long before the first library was installed, the duo had already built a community of readers through Your Reading Circle. That network helped them find books and early supporters.
“Every city already has readers; you just need to bring them together and create spaces where they can connect with books and with each other,” he says.
The first library itself was funded partly by the team and partly by a retired principal and professor named Indira Nityanandam, who became one of the initiative’s earliest supporters.
“She kept telling us to focus on permissions and the rest would somehow work out,” he recalls. He says their experience showed them that people were often willing to support the idea once they understood what the team was trying to do.
3. Invite public figures to build trust
The founders also realised that involving respected public figures during inaugurations helped the libraries gain visibility and community trust.
“Even a small library can create a big impact,” the co-founder says. “If people see respected individuals supporting it, they take the initiative seriously.”
The team has collaborated with radio personalities, local creators, and community leaders to spread awareness about the libraries and encourage participation.
4. Do not wait for everything to be perfect
One lesson the co-founder particularly emphasises is the importance of beginning. “We got the idea in April 2024 and started working on it soon after,” he says. “If your intention is genuine and you keep taking action consistently, things slowly start happening.”
That approach now shapes the way they advise others who want to replicate the model.
‘Our readers keep us going’
While the initiative continues to grow, it is the personal moments around the libraries that have remained most meaningful for the founders.
One such story came from a supporter named Parth Jala, who decided to sponsor a library in memory of his grandmother.
“His grandmother could not read, but she loved listening to him talk about books, so after she passed away, he decided to open a library in her name so that many others could experience the joy of reading,” Heet explains.
For the founders, Parth’s gesture showed how a library could carry a personal memory into a public space.
Today, the team has installed 11 libraries across Ahmedabad and two in Vadodara.
Another moment came when elderly residents began calling the team directly to thank them for reviving their reading habits. “There were uncles in their seventies and eighties telling us they had started reading again after many years,” he continues. “Some even brought books from their personal collections and donated them.”
The founders also noticed women in some parks gathering regularly around the libraries to read together and discuss books informally. These interactions showed them that the libraries were becoming places where people could read together and talk about books.
Now, they want the idea to travel beyond city parks
Mini libraries remain at the centre of their work, but the duo are now taking the idea into rural India as well.
The foundation has already opened its first village library in Bherunda near Modasa in Gujarat. Around 200 books are placed inside the gram panchayat building, along with a register system through which residents can borrow books for 14 days.
“For someone who has never travelled outside their village, books can become a way of seeing the world,” the co-founder says.
The team is now converting the first floor of the gram panchayat building in Sudamda village in Surendranagar district into a fully functioning community library where residents can sit and read. Unlike the mini libraries inside parks, this space will operate as a proper reading centre with seating, shelves, and a larger collection of books.
The founders eventually hope to build similar libraries across villages in Gujarat before expanding into other parts of India, including border regions and underserved communities.
For Heet, trying an idea they had once encountered through a social media reel has also changed what feels possible.
Heet and Om have received messages from people across India asking how they can create similar public libraries in their own cities.
“This initiative changed us psychologically because it made us believe that if your intention is pure and you continue taking action consistently, almost anything is possible,” he says.
For now, the idea continues to rest on the same thing that made the first cabinet at Parimal Garden work: strangers choosing to take care of a shared shelf of books.
All pictures courtesy Heet Doshi.
