This Airport Library in Bhubaneswar Lets You Pick A Book for Free While Waiting for Your Flight

Featured image source: X (Bakul Foundation)

At Bhubaneswar airport, between the clatter of trolley wheels and the echo of boarding calls, something unexpected catches the eye. Two open bookshelves, stacked with novels, magazines, and children’s tales, sit without counters or attendants. There are no price tags, no barcodes — just an invitation to take a book, read it, and return it whenever you can.

This is Odisha’s very own Flybrary. A space created for travellers to slow down, breathe, and lose themselves in a story while the world outside hurries on.

How it all began 

The idea came from a simple observation: airports have everything — lounges, cafés, shops — but nothing that connects strangers in a personal way. The 'Bakul Foundation', a Bhubaneswar-based volunteer collective, decided to change that. If there’s space for another billboard, why not a place for books? Why not a gesture that says, “Here’s something for you — just because we believe stories matter”?

So, in February 2025, they set up India’s first ‘Take a Book’ library at an airport. No membership forms, no rules beyond trust. Just a shelf that makes waiting a little warmer.

What’s on those shelves?

It’s hard not to stop when you walk past them. There’s something for everyone — English classics, Odia poetry, Hindi fiction, glossy coffee-table books, even National Geographic magazines and motivational reads. Children’s titles share space with travel guides, donated by people who wanted their favourite stories to find a second life.

Since the day it opened, over 600 books have travelled in and out of the Flybrary — each one carrying a piece of someone’s journey.

How you can join in

If you’re passing through Bhubaneswar, here’s how you can be part of this little circle of generosity:

• Carry a book you’ve loved and leave it on the shelf.
• Borrow one, read it, and bring it back on your next trip (or mail it to Bakul Foundation).
• Volunteer to keep the shelves neat or organise book drives.

Every book added makes the circle stronger. And the idea is already sparking conversations about similar spaces in bus stations and railway hubs.

More than just books

For Bakul Foundation, this isn’t the first experiment. Over the last decade, they’ve created some of Odisha’s most innovative community libraries — from the Little Tree Library in Forest Park to the quirky Library in a Fridge at Ekamra Haat. But putting books in an airport feels different.

Airports are places of constant movement — people rushing to somewhere else. By placing a library here, they’ve created a pocket of stillness in a space built for speed. It’s a reminder that even in the most impersonal places, we can choose to build culture, share kindness, and keep imagination alive.

A system built on trust

The Flybrary runs on something rare in today’s world — trust. There are no glass doors, no staff monitoring who takes what. Just shelves that refill because people care enough to keep them alive. Volunteers stop by to clean, sort, and restock.

And sometimes, the smallest moments make it all worth it. When Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of the India Meteorological Department, spotted a copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People, he picked it up. “It felt relevant at that moment,” he smiled, promising to return it on his next trip. It’s a simple act — but one that ties strangers together through stories.

A story you can add to 

We live in an age of screens and scrolling, where the habit of reading feels like it’s slipping away. For children, especially, imagination often comes second to instant entertainment. The Flybrary gently pushes back against that trend. It says books still matter; that stories still have the power to pause us, comfort us, and make the world feel less lonely.

There’s something special about holding a book that has passed through other hands — hands that turned these very pages on other journeys, in other moments. That’s what makes the Flybrary more than just a shelf. It’s a chain of generosity, stitched together by people who believe in sharing something as simple and beautiful as a book.

So next time you pack for a flight, slip in an extra one. Leave it on the shelf before you board. Somewhere, someone will find it exactly when they need it most.