Library On the Go Helps Wayland Residents Enjoy the Library From Home

Raj Madaksir has spent much of his 87 years loving to read. He says his reading “habit” first started back when he was in school. Raj comes from a highly educated Indian family full of voracious readers. His father was the principal of a college in India back in the early 1900’s, his eldest brother served as the Director of Education in their home state and his older brother was a doctor. Raj jokes that even though he worked for many years in India as a Regional Bank Manager, he still jokes that he’s “the least educated” in his successful family.

Raj has shared his reading habit with his children, including his daughter Pallavi, who helped him sign up for the Wayland Free Public Library’s home delivery services program, Library On the Go. Pallavi runs Bhumika Arts in Wayland, a classical Indian dance school which helps them keep connected to many of the Indian families in the local community. She first heard about the Library On the Go program in the Wayland libraries weekly emails and then helped Raj easily fill out the online form to sign up.

Raj first moved to Wayland in 2021, from India, to be closer to family. In their home, his family speaks Kannada and when out and about in Wayland they speak English and Hindi. Raj credits his work as a regional manager for the formerly nationalized banking system in India as being the reason that both he and his children can speak a “smattering” of many languages. Even though Raj is multi lingual, he prefers to read books in English. Most days Raj spends 3 to 4 hours reading mysteries, spy and suspense thrillers by authors like Jeffrey Archer and Dan Brown. He says he has been able to find everything he wants to read through the library, often putting books on hold. Raj prefers the tactile feel of holding books to watching television. He says, “reading requires using your imagination, painting the picture yourself, rather than having everything presented” on a screen. Of course, he makes exceptions to subscribe to a special TV channel to watch cricket, adding that the “USA has a great cricket team.”

Raj has not driven in many years and likes the Library On the Go service because he no longer has to ask his family to bring him to the library to get books. He calls the program “a commute saver” that is very helpful and says he would recommend the service to anyone who can’t access the library. Raj also mentioned how beautiful and organized the Wayland Free Public Library building was when he used to go in person. Thanks to Library On the Go Raj is still able to enjoy the Wayland Free Public Libraries materials from home!