This restaurateur never made it past fifth grade. Now she runs a roadside library.
| Ozar, India
The fragrance of tea brewing and the earthy aroma of round flatbreads baking fill the air. The busy kitchen rings with the sounds of steel pots clanging. Meanwhile, the restaurant鈥檚 visitors are lost in a different world, their heads buried in books or browsing shelves that are bursting with fiction and nonfiction titles.
Ajjichya Pustakanch Hotel, or Grandmother鈥檚 Library Hotel, is tucked unexpectedly along a national highway in the western Indian town of Ozar. On each restaurant table is a metal stand with a couple of books and a menu card. Some tables also have straw baskets covered with cloth and laden with books. All told, Ajjichya Pustakanch Hotel has about 5,000 books in the Hindi, Marathi, and English languages. (Stand-alone restaurants, especially in rural India, are often known as hotels despite not providing lodging.)
The founder of the restaurant library is Bhimabai Sampat Jondhale, who interacts often with visitors, eager to learn what they are reading and whether they are enjoying it. No one is required to place an order to browse the library.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onBhimabai Sampat Jondhale never lost her passion for reading despite her limited schooling. Today, she caters to book fans while fulfilling a dream of her own.
鈥淓veryone picks up a book鈥�
It all started when Ms. Jondhale was running a highway tea stall and discovered that customers, while waiting for their drinks and snacks, were glued to their cellphones. She had always loved books and thought that she could offer them some reading pleasure as they waited, and as an opportunity to put down their devices. Today, the restaurant with colorful orange and green chairs has wall paintings and posters highlighting the importance of reading, as well as a poetry wall.
鈥淓veryone picks up a book as they wait for their order,鈥� Ms. Jondhale says. 鈥淭hey read at least a couple of chapters instead of scrolling on their phones. That鈥檚 a heartening sight.鈥�
Although she was fond of reading as a child, Ms. Jondhale was married at age 11 and never went beyond the fifth grade. 鈥淟ife took me on another path,鈥� she says.
She raised her two children essentially by herself. Poverty left her with no time to indulge in reading or studying. But she always had a great memory and could still rattle off poems that she had learned in primary school.
Ms. Jondhale鈥檚 son, Pravin Jondhale, started distributing newspapers to finance his schooling and college education, while Ms. Jondhale worked on their farm with her daughter. When their land became useless because of chemicals leaching into the soil from a nearby factory, she opened the tea stall with her children in 2010. She also started catering meals for laborers who worked on expanding the highway.
鈥淢any people criticized me, saying that a woman had no business running a tea stall and interacting with customers,鈥� Ms. Jondhale says. 鈥淏ut I did not care about all that. I was determined to make a better life for my family.鈥�
Slowly, she and her children used their savings and expanded the stall into a small restaurant with seating. Mr. Jondhale, who has a master鈥檚 degree in journalism, started a publishing house, alongside helping his mother run the tea shop. When the company shut down about 10 years ago, he was left with a stock of titles in Marathi 鈥� books that the family began placing in the restaurant.
鈥淐ustomers started coming here just for our books,鈥� Mr. Jondhale says. Seeing the books鈥� popularity, he and his mother began buying more for their collection and receiving book donations from individuals and organizations.
Many students and writers come to peruse the stacks. Vidyullata Hande, a lecturer at Bytco Junior College in Nashik, says the restaurant library has 鈥渁n amazing vibe and takes you back to school.鈥�
鈥淢y students really enjoyed spending time here browsing books, talking with [Ms. Jondhale], and wandering in the garden,鈥� she adds.
Hiralal Vittal Patil, the village development officer for the Dindori subdistrict, where the restaurant library is located, says that Ms. Jondhale is performing a phenomenal service.
鈥淪he has inspired young and old to start reading in this digital age, made her library hotel a magnet for students and bibliophiles, and attracted even celebrity visitors and scholars,鈥� he says. 鈥淔rom a makeshift tea stall to something of this magnitude is a stupendous achievement in a lifetime.鈥�
Mr. Jondhale says that besides being drawn to the books, many children who come to the library enjoying visiting his mother. They treat her like a grandmother. 鈥淭he love and respect that she gets from the young ones really make us happy,鈥� he says.
Ms. Jondhale herself finds time to read a few pages or chapters every day amid her chores. 鈥淚 love history and stories that have a moral,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 enjoy reading about ancient kings like Shivaji, the Maratha king, who were brave and did so much for their people.鈥�
The rewards of reading
Beyond the library, Ms. Jondhale has begun distributing free books to hospitals and schools and organizing talks by writers, as well as workshops for children. The events usually take place in the restaurant鈥檚 garden, which is lined with mango trees and benches. On certain days, such as the birthday of former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, visitors are allowed to walk away with a free book.
One wall of the restaurant is filled with photos of Ms. Jondhale receiving as many as 85 service awards from nongovernmental and other organizations. But the family remains grounded, and Mr. Jondhale continues to deliver newspapers every morning before heading to work in the restaurant. 鈥淧ublicity is short-lived, and it should not go to our heads,鈥� he says.
For Ms. Jondhale, the true reward is seeing someone engrossed in a book.
鈥淏ooks can heal your soul and give immense happiness,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey are your lifelong companions.鈥�
