As parents, most of us want the world for our children; the right school, good manners, quality toys and the best of books. But few of us would probably do what Richa and Tarun Jain did for their daughter Suhani. Inspired by her willingness to learn, read and explore more, they set up Mindgym, a library for children!

Out of the Box library (pic: Reshmi Chakraborty)

As is with children, Suhani too would soon get bored of her new toys and books before moving on to other things. It led Richa and Tarun to talk to friends and come up with the idea of a rental library. Started more than two years ago at Sarjapur, Mindgym has now grown to start two more centres in Marthahalli and Sun City. Mindgym offers not just books but a great selection of toys too. You can also avoid the hassles of commuting, for Mindgym offers home delivery service. Books and CDs are delivered to you by the library, which can be kept for up to a month.

Mindgym's service has got great response in Sarjapur and surrounding areas. "The area is full of young children and people, especially in the IT industry, were probably looking for a service like this," says Richa.

A library for children was an area few ventured into even a couple of years ago. But for a couple of them like Hippocampus and Easy Library, not many were around. Today, a host of children's libraries are coming up all over, many of them inspired by the public libraries for children in western countries. Most libraries for children in Bangalore are more than a place with a good stock of books. They also double up as activity areas where children can read, play and learn something new. While some are relatively cheap at Rs. 150 a month, most offer different plans that start around Rs. 300 onwards.

At Meghana Rao Simha and Pramodini Prashant's I-Cue library in JP Nagar, children can choose from over 5,000 books spanning various genres and age groups. Meghana wanted a reading space that wasn't too overwhelming for a child to enjoy books. The bright scribble walls and jungle theme rooms at I-Cue certainly offer that space.

The Hippocampus Experience Center in Koramangala, started six years ago is today a recognised name with a collection of 14,000 books. "When we started, people laughed at us saying a library for children and a profitable business model do not go together," says founder Umesh Malhotra. He believed that children wanted to read but to entice them away from cartoon channels and malls; he needed to make his place equally vibrant. A hit from the beginning, Hippocampus is a place where children can browse books in the library, play games, join clubs and basically hang out and have fun. Its experience center model has now been emulated by several upcoming kiddies' libraries and activity centers.

Easy Library in Koramangala dedicates one entire floor to children. With over 6,000 books for children alone, there is a lot for children (or the moms) to choose from, including picture and board books for toddlers and all the popular series for older children. Vani Mahesh, who runs Easy Library, ensures that there is a good dose of literature thrown in as well. What gives this library an extra edge are the several literary activities they conduct for children. For three to seven year olds, they have storytelling sessions by Kathalaya, while children aged eight and above, are introduced to literary classics once a month.

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