Bhubaneswar: The phrase “To Read is to fly,” displayed on a bookshelf at Bhubaneswar Airport, perfectly encapsulates the essence of a unique initiative aimed at celebrating the power of reading and fostering reading habits. Welcome to the FLYBRARY at Bhubaneswar Airport, an initiative of Bakul Foundation in partnership with the Airports Authority of India. Passengers flying through Bhubaneswar Airport can browse through books at the Airport, and take it with them if they like the book and want to finish reading it. They can return it on their next visit to the Airport. This is a first of its kind initiative in India, where passengers can take away books to read for free without having to submit anything. There are other Airports in India now that have set up libraries in the last few years such as Varanasi, Pune and Bangalore (in their Lounge) but none of them allow books to be taken. There are 2 shelves, one each at DEPARTURE and at ARRIVALS. One can pick up a book of one’s choice, read and return it at the shelf there. Or One can also take the book with oneself. One can return the books at the Flybrary Shelves at the Bhubaneswar airport or send them to Bakul Foundation. One can also gift one’s books to Bakul for the Flybrary initiative or the Library Movement in general for the libraries Bakul is setting up across Odisha. There are books in English, Hindi and Odia though most of the books are in English. There are more Hindi books in Arrivals and more Odia books in Departure as Odias, particularly senior citizens traveling from Odisha might want to read an Odia book while senior citizens visiting Odisha might prefer a Hindi book. There are coffee table books, magazines like National Geographic, novels, self help and motivation and children’s books. Sujit Mahapatra, the founder of Bakul Foundation, said that, “We have tried out similar experiments at open unmanned libraries with a Little Tree Library in Forest Park, which was later replicated at Anandaban, the urban forest in Bhubaneswar, and we also have a Library in a Fridge at Ekamra Haat, and have been setting up libraries in public spaces, where people can pick up a book just to kill time, and maybe develop a love for books in the process.”