A library of villagers devoted to Munshi Premchand

Varanasi, July 23 (UNI) Even as state machinery races against time to complete a memorial for famed novelist Munshi Premchand in his birth-place Lamahi, college-goers in neighbouring Madhava village have pooled their savings to create a library for preserving and popularising the relics penned by the literary legend.

The group of 20 students, including three girls, who started the library way back in June 2005, have now invested their pocket-money to procure a computer with the help of which they dream of creating an exclusive website devoted to the legendary novelist.

''In all his writings, be it novels or short stories, Premchand has written his address as Madhava-Lamahi but seventy years after his demise, people now only consider Lamahi as his birthplace, forgetting the fact that many of creations were based on real life stories of Madhava,'' said Jitendra, a B.Sc student and a founding member of 'Premchand Margdarshan Kendra.' The beginning was made on June 12 when the 20 college-goers including Jitendra, Dilip and Nishant pooled their pocket-money towards opening the library for preserving the creations of Premchand.

''The poor kid, Hamid, in Munshiji's short story Idgah spent his pocket-money for buying a Chimta for agening granny Amina, but we replicated the story character's deed to develop a library for the relics of his creator,'' maintained Nishant.

''First we started the library in a hutment, but a month later shifted the limited number of literary relics to the Gram Panchayat building,'' he added.

The library is now an year old and showcases Premchand's creations including Nirmala, Gaban, Kafan, Godan, Kayakalp and Karmabhoomi. Besides, Munshiji's creations, the library also has for its 136 members, works of famous writers spanning from William Shaekespere, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky and James Allen to Rabindra Nath Tagore, Jai Shankar Prasad and Swami Vivekanand.

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