He was a Karnataka bus conductor once; now he runs a 16,000 sq ft library with 20 lakh books

Anke Gowda, who worked as a bus conductor and later retired as a sugar factory worker, has created Pustaka Mane, a vast library in Karnataka's Mandya district. What began as one man’s childhood dream in a book-deprived village has grown into a sprawling public library filled with millions of titles. Pustaka Mane stands today not just as a collection of books, but as a reminder of how personal sacrifice can create public knowledge spaces in the most unexpected places.