all the cafes where you can go, sit down, get free wifi, so you can plug in your laptop to work for hours should be what our public libraries should be doing. sick & fkn tired that you have to spend 200 bucks for coffee you hate just for human company + library feels to work/read

if I wasn't working or even if I was a couple of years ago, I'd never be able to even dream of stepping into one of these places much less consider buying anything there - sometimes I think I live in some strange new world now where this kind of thing is normal?! DEMAND LIBRARIES

NO, it is NOT romantic to sit in a cafe & write. Cannot afford it, most can't, it's the most disgusting American TV exported capitalist alternative to the destruction of public libraries. Imagine the same places but free + open to everyone, with books, computers, free/cheap chai

See the no. of cafes that exist when you walk down Indiranagar? That's how many libraries we need - for children, women, persons with disabilities, elderly - on feminism, local history, queerness - so you can decide which vibe you want & go there to chill / work / reading dates!

basically want beauts well lit libraries with convenient plug points, attached to Hyd Irani style café vibes - slowing down time to sit, engage & talk shop, politics, gossip, not just for men, but for everyone - sip chai, meet diverse strangers, talk about a book / film, sigh

I still think abt City Central Library in Hyd - was dilapidated, rickety chairs, chipped tables, had a certain charm, like walking into the past - we stopped going coz saw group of (suspected) drunk men in the lawn, felt unsafe to parents to leave us kids there unsupervised

It is SO important to adopt a feminist perspective in planning public space + infra: children are the most vulnerable group in any space esp. girls - you need public libraries to be planned for girls, for 1st gen learners, for those without devices/WiFi/stable electricity at home

Someone open a community library like this nearby so I stop procrastinating. I'm guessing it's gonna take time to build a strong public libraries movement also, while working, hustling, exhausted to sustain this lifestyle of affording to sit in the fancy café to work more to earn

Just think about the lovely cafe staff who are kind, smile and offer you chai. Imagine they are public employees, with job security, labour protections + benefits. The cute barista who made me betray my own principles to frequent cafés could have been the cute librarian who did

basically the dream. when they ask what do you wanna do with your life? retire & do exactly this. make a library with nice tables, feminist lit, WiFi, plug-points, trees with swings, attached cat shelter, idk how it will work but free chai. Rich people, pls make this a reality.

If you are as charmed as I am by feminist cities, do check out my podcast that's trying to imagine & realise feminist cities (link in bio) and do see report that makes some recos re existing means on making cities feminist, short of a feminist revolution https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/research/making-a-feminist-city-planning-safety-and-autonomy-for-women/

Piece by colleague on the Karnataka Public Libraries Act and it's non-implementation https://twitter.com/magicanarchist/status/1356611970707959808?s=20

@CommunityLibPro is such a lovely example that signifies this https://twitter.com/CommunityLibPro/status/1356969377438990338?s=20

wondering if anyone remembers Open Space in Pune (is it still functional?) this amazing space, open apartment full of books, films, couches - you could just walk in, plop down & read whatever you wanted - they'd host meetings with civil society, env orgs

http://www.ccds.in/os.htm#:~:text=Set%20up%20six%20years%20ago,in%20ongoing%20programmes%20and%20campaigns.