ABOUT TOPUDUBANDI
With an intention to promote the habit of reading, Sheik Sadiq Ali, a former journalist began strolling on the streets of Hyderabad with a pushcart (Topudu Bandi) laden with books on Telugu literature and poetry. He visited almost every lane of Hyderabad in February-may 2015 by choosing one area at a time. He then decided that the people in rural areas need education that most,
so he decided to take his pushcart in rural areas. That's when he planned to push his cart for 1,000 km over 100 days. After a month of planning, on January 24, 2016, Sadiq began his journey. He began pushing from Uppal in Hyderabad and began entering rural areas on the outskirts. However, he immediately realised that all those heavy books he was carrying, was of no use. He then went back, and filled his cart with smaller books and began selling them for Rs 10 and Rs 20. The people absolutely loved the books. Many of them would crowd around the cart, but as he went deeper into the rural areas, many did not have the capacity to buy the books. Even Rs 5 and Rs 10 was hard for them. Some of them would read a little bit and give it back, while others would copy a small book down by hand, so they could go back later and read it. That's when he decided to give away books for free. He has given away books worth Rs 18 lakh to locals in various districts of Telangana for free. Sadiq was not done yet, in many of these places, they had one or two empty buildings. So, he bought a table, a few chairs, one bookshelf and donated several books, thereby establishing small libraries in around 112 villages across Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Medak and Warangal districts. Sadiq finally finished his 1000 km trip on May 8, 2016, after he reached Warangal in 104 days. In Warangal, he started many libraries in government schools. During May 2017, Sadiq took his push cart to 27 slum areas in Warangal where he distributed thousands of books to hundreds of underprivileged children for free. His sole intention is to provide education to those who cannot afford it. Sadiq has moved away from selling just poetry, and spread out to selling books of all genres, and multiple languages. He is spending his hard earned money which he earned through his career of 30 years for buying the books and donating them. His businesses and properties come a great way in helping his cause. He also uses his Facebook account to spread his work among his friends and other prominent persons. Several well-wishers and donors are coming forward to raise funds for this cause. Mr. Sadiq is doing this out of passion, and out of the love for reading. He wants to spread knowledge through these books, specifically to rural children, as they often lack the resources and facilities. So he started establishing libraries, both in schools and villages. Along with story books, there are books about great personalities, about Telangana, personality development and class activity books. In Nallbelli Mandal, he donated 14000 books to 14 libraries. 10 of them are school libraries and four are village libraries. Currently, Topudu Bandi is getting requests from all over Telangana, to set up village and school libraries.Getting request for mobile phones for online classes . Sadiq is planning to establish computer training centre, library for educated unemployed youth. Aswell as to setup various training centres i.e sweeing machines training for rural women. Sadiq is striving hard for achieving these targets.
