Article written by Shreyasi Jha

As the legendary artist, Vincent Van Gogh once said, “I’d rather die out of passion than of boredom.”

My biggest passion is writing and recently something quite big happened. An event which has the potential to make my ordinary life extraordinary. Being an aspiring writer, I submitted a short story that I wrote based on a prompt to a National Short Story Contest. Just as a streak of luck came for me, I happened to win the First Prize, which included a large cheque for One Lakh rupees! My family and I took more than forty-eight hours to simply believe that I received a huge amount of money through my talent.

The levels of dopamine or the ‘feel good ‘ hormones in my body must have been the highest ever! But then my stress levels had a competition with them as the big question came in, which was ‘How will I spend the money?’

My parents advised me not to rush a big decision but instead give a meaningful amount of time to it. Impatient as my friends call me, I gave myself only three days to come up with an unusually good idea to spend the money. My procrastinator self had agreed with this as deadlines strangely bring the best out of me, and they did.

Thus I plan to open a small, tranquil space for readers, writers or students to come to and be surrounded by dozens of books, calm music and a little beverage section to energize themselves, or in other words a nifty, small and enjoyable public library.

The visitors can bring their books, drinks, food and laptops to enjoy and do their work. All they have to do is pay the entry fee which would be as affordable as hundred rupees and would last for three hours. After exceeding that much, one would have to pay fifty rupees per hour, and for issuing a book from the library would be 100 rupees for one week, and if returned late then 50 rupees per day. Such reasonable prices would for sure attract many students to come, and not to forget the beverage section! An easy-to-use coffee machine and a mini-refrigerator with a variety of soft drinks and water undoubtedly would be available at all times.

The timings for the library would be in two shifts- 6:00 am - 12:00pm, 5:00pm - 2:00am. As a student myself, I know that productivity is higher either in the early morning hours or late night hours. Hence it would be super convenient for the visitors to be productive and finish their work at the library.

By taking up this idea, not only will I have my own profitable business and gain entrepreneurial knowledge, it would be a huge problem solver for the student community as being enveloped by a productive place is hard to find these days. A calm state of mind is what people need, and that is what would be provided.

To conclude, the phrase ‘do what you love has been the sole inspiration for this idea to invest in my cash prize, and it is true to say that purpose is what fuels passion. With that being said, my decision has been made, and all I need is a catchy name for the library, good promotion, support and the best seeming visitors!

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