Former bus conductor builds Karnataka library with 20 lakh books in 16000 sq ft dream

How a book starved village became a reading hub

Anke Gowda, once a Karnataka bus conductor and later a retired sugar factory worker, has transformed a childhood dream into Pustaka Mane in Mandya. The 16,000 sq ft public library now houses about 20 lakh books, growing from one man’s vision in a book-deprived village into a sprawling knowledge space that turns personal sacrifice into community learning.