The public library was at the heart of my social mobility

Launer’s eulogy to the public library jogged deep memories.1 My parents left a small town in northern India, Moga, to settle in Glasgow, Scotland, arriving on New Year’s Eve in 1955. We settled, like many immigrants, in the Gorbals, an area known for its deprivation. My father had left school at the age of 9, and my mother, to her lifelong chagrin, never went. Nonetheless, both my parents extolled the virtues of education.We had no books. When I started school at the age of 5, my first language was Punjabi and I had a smattering of English. I struggled academically. Luckily, Gorbals public library was at hand and was a godsend. My first three books were borrowed, read, and returned on the same evening. My first book was called How Big Is Big? I became a voracious reader. Our houses were small, and the family was large so there was…
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