Let's borrow this idea

I was in Helsinki last month, as part of a Climate Solutions visit organised by the Finnish government.

- Snehal Fernandes

I was hoping the airport taxi driver would be chatty, that he'd tell me what to expect from the weather, at least list the good spots to eat. Ali didn't do any of that. Instead, he told me how he escaped the conflict in Somalia and ended up in Finland. "You should visit the public library," he said. "It's good."

No one expects taxi drivers to recommend a library. I was intrigued. And so, I wandered there the next morning, my breath catching on the clean, frigid autumn air as I took in the sprawling three-storey ship-shaped Oodi Helsinki Central Library.