Hasn’t your bucket list always had Wales aka the Book Village in UK on it? Well, the good news is, you don’t have to go that far; what with Brexit and all. Closer to home, we have a goldmine when it comes to books, fellow bibliophiles—one that not many know about. 

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Situated close to ‘Berry land’ that is Mahabaleshwar – Bhilar, in Sitara, will now be called ‘Pustakanche Gao’, that is, the Book Village. Prominent writers, poets and artistes are expected to host events to promote culture and literature in the newly discovered location, which was formally inaugurated by Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharshtra, on May 04th 2017. 

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With a population of only 10,000 people, out of which 90% are farmers, the ratio of books to villagers is going to be 1:1.

Currently, the books are only in Marathi, however English and Hindi books will be added gradually.

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Artists have voluntarily hopped on to a bus to the village and added their own art to the village. Over 75 of them turned around 25 locations into beautiful designs from everything such as poetry, history, literature, autobiographies, festivals and so on.  

There are spaces through the village, in homes, in streets, and these artists have turned them into beautiful libraries. So basically, you can read anywhere. Have fun!