Former BJP MLA from Pune Pradeep Rawat missed the Parliament Library so much when he retired from the job, that he started The Rawat Nature Library. With 5,000 books on science and evolutionary biology, it is considered to be among the best stocked libraries in the city.
Situated on the Pune-Satara road, the library is a dream come true for Pradeep. Speaking at the opening, Pradeep said “I was always interested in studying science, and was a student at Abashabeb Garware College, but could not complete it as I was jailed during the JP Movement, but this never stopped me from wanting to read and learn more”.
The library houses books on science, evolutionary biology, brain and behaviour, plants and animals, science and technology, climate science and biographies and works by renowned thinkers such as Carl Sagan and Charles Darwin. Rawat has even gone out of his way to collect special edition books sometimes even bidding online and buying a second-hand copy of Jacques Monod’s Chance and Necessity for $200.
As a testament to his works, Dr. LS Shashidhara, Head of Biology at IISER said that The Rawat Nature Library was among the best public libraries he has visited. “There is a vast collection of books on all aspects of science some of which are not found at our institute or even the Pune University”, he added.
Till date, the library has seen over 30,000 students spend hours scouring over books, preparing for exams and researching.
