Stories from India: Former bus conductor Anke Gowda wins Padma Shri for creating a library of 2 million books

Anke Gowda, who began collecting books at the age of 20, was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honours, in 2026. Once a bus conductor, Gowda now runs Pustak Mane (House of Books) in Haralhalli village, Karnataka, which has a collection of more than 2 million books. Today it is regarded as one of the largest private libraries in the country and offers free reading facilities to the public.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 3, 2026

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Stories from India: Former bus conductor Anke Gowda wins Padma Shri for creating a library of 2 million books

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