KOCHI: As the waters swallowed up the whole Kerala, relief materials poured into the various parts of the state. But among the essentials that were sourced and given away, books got sidelined. A group of techies has decided to address this matter. The largest community book sourcing initiative pioneered by a group of techies from Technopark, the ‘#bookathon smiles ahead vision 20-20’ is set to restore the libraries hit by the flood.
“This is something we wanted to start for a long time, but we have been waiting until the essential needs were met. Now requests for books have started coming in from various schools in the flood-hit areas,” says Ram Thenmala, one of the techies helming the initiative. The campaign is on to mobilise books to the libraries in the -affected areas.
The ‘Bookathon’ initiative was started several months back with the aim to promote reading and help to set up libraries in schools and communities. The movement being pioneered by Tejus, Hands Foundation and Technopark has been able to equip 47 libraries in the state up till now. This initiative is now being extended to cover the libraries in the flood-hit areas.
Although it is a mammoth effort, Ram says this feat is easily achievable if the people across the state join in the initiative. “If apartment complexes, institutions, offices or other associations start such initiatives, we can mobilise enough books. People can start collecting books to rebuild the libraries in their areas. Else they can join in our movement by donating books.
One can donate used or brand new books,” says Ram. “The students have lost everything, their study materials and the whole of the school merchandise. They might all be cash-strapped and in these times, we cannot expect them to invest the money in leisure reading. In these times, reading should not be relegated to the sidelines and for that, we should support them,” adds Ram.
All kinds of books are being collected, be it colouring books, story books, magazines, fiction, non-fiction, and reference books. “In fact, any book that can help restore a library in a school or those in the communities is being sourced. The volunteers will collect the books once we are contacted. We have received 20 requests from flood affected areas up till now. The verification is progressing,” says Ram.
Their dream is to help rebuild the libraries lost in the floods across the state. “It is a huge effort which cannot go on without considerable contribution of books by the public,” concludes Ram.