vadodara arun mujumdar and vishnu mahajan took upon themselves to encourage reading among barodians which they believed was declining rapidly the reading club called granthaswad soon became a meeting point for marathi literature enthusiasts over the last four years granthaswad has grown to include over 150 members and diversified into hindi gujarati and english literature the hourlong reading sessions held on the last saturday of every month also invites writers and literary experts to deliver talks with technology people are turning more to electronic devices for information they are reading books on screens this club was started to bring people back to books said arun mujumdar one of the founders mujumdar added that the club was the brainchild of late friend and cofounder vishnu mahajan a citybased chartered accountant we started reading sessions with a small group at jaysinhrao library near kothi but with the members increasing we had to shift the sessions to the maharaja fatesingh museum compound after a year he added the club helps the readers to step out of their preferred genres and come across various literary works classics such as kalidasas kumar sambhav are also discussed here with same fervour as modern literature the club gives us a platform to explore literature from different eras said former m s university vice chancellor anil kane former police commissioner of hyderabad vivek deshpande and dadasaheb phalkes grandson chandrashekar pusalkar have also chaired sessions for the club in the past i came to know about the club through a newspaper and joined immediately such groups should flourish across the city as they help us revive our culture and the habit of reading said madhavi shah a housewife who has been attending the sessions since may granthaswad will celebrate its 50th book reading session on december 27 with discussions on the works of 17th century marathi poet sant bahinabai