the ice-cream truck man

We just barely squeeze into the narrow and dusty alleyways, honking at the cyclists, pedestrians and goats that skirt past us. The side view mirror is permanently pushed inward -- unusable, but it won’t get knocked off, and the alley is simply too narrow to accommodate. At the next opening, our truck finally lurches to a stop. We are in Godhna, a farming community about an hour outside of Varanasi, India. Kids of all ages hear our arrival and hurry towards us like magnets.

“Uncle ji,” they cry out, “what did you bring this time?”

Our pied piper, driver, and leader grins under his mustache as he opens the back of his truck, crawling in. He unlatches a side window and unfolds a makeshift counter. The vehicle now resembles an ice cream truck.

Inside the locked cabinets are the goods the kids have been salivating for since his last visit.

A crowd of about 50 has circled around him.

Uttam Shivhare, or Uncle ji, as he is affectionately referred to, slowly starts laying out his wares.

Picture books, dictionaries, novels and comics. Books about foreign countries, world history, and religion. Books in Hindi, as well as English.

The sticky little hands start grabbing immediately. They soak in the pictures, and slide their fingers over glossy pages. Many bring their books to nearby trees or stoops to silently read. Some read aloud to smaller children.

World Literacy Canada (WLC)'s mobile library is stationed in Varanasi. Shivhare visits 11 communities a week, driving home the right to read to nearly 600 people who wouldn't otherwise have access to books -- giving some children their first exposure to reading.

A day in the life of Shivhare in the mobile library means stopping in the middle of a highway to praise the report card of a teenage girl and library frequenter who's passing by. Taking the longer, rockier route to check on the health of a sickly 80-year-old man who likes to borrow novels about gods and goddesses.

Honking all the way into the village to mark the arrival of books.