2. Books Transform Lives

Ranga was a thief, who used to steal things, usually bags, in a railway station for his livelihood. Once he stole a small bag from the same railway station. On seeing the size, being small and weighed moderately heavy, he thought it was a bumper, a BAG FULL OF MONEY.

Excited Ranga, thought of having a quick breakfast before opening the Bumper. So he rushed to a nearby hotel at the railway station. Though he ate a normal breakfast, felt very happy and stomach full, was thinking about the bundles of currencies in the bag he had just stolen. Then he went to a small hideout place, where he usually opens, sort and organize the stolen things. It was the outer part of the railway station, where rusted carriages / boogies / railway compartments were present. He had many dreams of using the money, to eat some delicacies he was longing for, to purchase few new clothes, as his most of the clothes were worn out. Then he was planning to watch a movie, and so on. As each need had a painful story behind them. 

When he reached the safe hideout, his domain, he carefully opened the small bag, to his disappointment, there was no currency note. There were three books –

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickinson, the story was more like his biography, he could travel along the story and he was moved after reading it.  

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl, again he was greatly emotional seeing how the poor boy remained calm, poise and truthful. He admired how the hardships were tested and at the end resulted in becoming a heir of the Chocolate Factory, where he could live with his family.

The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy, which speaks on the ways to spread love to mankind, emphasized the principle of nonviolent and asks to face problems instead of resisting it with violent means.

He resolved to leave the act of stealing things from others and decided to work hard to earn a living and give back to the society as a token of compensation. The first thing he did was to purchase good story books especially for children, as he had only limited knowledge in English. With the available money he purchased books from the shop which sold “Used books”, which was located at the platform near the railway station.

After reading all these books he opened a small shop of “Used books”, opposite to a school. He sold the books to those who had money; he rented some books for a small token money for the children who are not offered to buy the used books. He was the first reader of all the books available in the shop. He had been doing enough charity activities, especially for education. 



P. S. : Photos courtesy Internet