Human Library Project: When City Denizens Turned The Pages Of Breathing Books!

Bhubaneswar: When the world turned against her, cursed her to death, asked her to commit suicide, she took the reins of her life in her hands. “If I had to die, I would have by now. I will slog, I will crawl but will continue to live for life is a priceless gift,” she said.

In her early fifties, this former sex worker was one among the 10 ‘Human Books’ who spoke their heart out at Human Library Project, a unique concept organized by Bhubnaeswar Poetry Club, for the first time in the city. The air at the Recess cafe on Sunday, was filled with stories of valour, will power and pain.

This concept where human beings turn into books, started in 2000 in Denmark to challenge prejudices related to them. Bhubaneswar is the sixth Indian city to have organized it.

While some books left a smile on readers’ face, others brought tears. The sex worker said how helplessness and hunger forced her into the illegal trade. “It’s been ten years since I got out of it, but sex work gave me food which no sane, rich, or kind human in my most dreadful days agreed to help me with,” she expressed as she smiled.

One of the readers, Devnandan Mahapatra, who interacted with a gay sexual abuse survivor, said he was extremely surprised at how people behave or react to the queer community. “Besides, male sexual abuse is so less talked about,” he added.

Across the room, there were emotions bursting. Struggles of these people, a reader Ankit Jha said, make him wonder how ungrateful we often are. He believes such events can bring about great humanitarian changes in the society.

The male sexual abuse survivor said it was phenomenal being a book. “I could reach out to 38 different people and they could reach out to 38 more and that itself was a blessing,” he expressed.

Around 225 youngsters from the city lend their ears and read these human books, which included a bisexual clinical depression survivor, a gay sexual abuse survivor, a hearing disabled entrepreneur, a transgender OAS officer, an alcohol abuse survivor, acid attack survivor, a victim of caste discrimination, Italy-born Odissi dancer, a renowned Gotipua dancer and former sex worker.

“The response was overwhelming for us. The kind of feedback we have received from the readers made us emotional and suddenly two months of slogging it out in the sun and rain and managing office and event seemed all worth it! The feedback is well noted and we are already discussing to incorporate those and make our next events even better,” said Sourav Panda, one of the core team members.