Padma Baliga was on a mission to set up classroom libraries, till Covid-19 stopped her forever An admirer pieces together a life from social media posts. Padma Baliga. When people ask me, “Do kids read these days?” in a disbelieving tone, I want to ask them, “Have you tried giving kids books? Books they want to read? Giving them to kids who have no books to read?” — Padma Baliga Padma Baliga took to hashtagging her social media posts at least three years before I did. A vocal feminist, her write-ups on phenomenal women have a liberal sprinkling of the word “badass”. Kickass, too.