KOCHI: The old, somewhat dilapidated building beside the main road at Kurichithanam, now famous as the birthplace of former President K R Narayanan, wears too rustic a look to grab one’s attention.
But in it lies a treasure trove, the P Sivarama Pillai People’s Library, founded in 1949. While time has made most of the 25,000-odd books and some grand old editions of invaluable foreign magazines, it has also taken its toll on them.
A group of old men in charge of the library are quite aware of it, but not sure of the approach needed to protect them, particularly if they have to utilise modern scientific ways. They look to seek outside assistance. “The building couldn’t fully withstand the recent heavy rain and, sadly, a few more books were ruined. We approached the Kerala State Library Council (KSLC) to modernise the facility and they’ve asked us to submit a detailed project. We’re keen on digitising, but will need external help. It’s going to be an expensive affair as well,” M N Krishnan Nair, who has been the library committee’s secretary for the past 25 years, told Express.
The KSLC, which made it a referral library in 2005 and has given it A+ rating, recently allotted a fund of `32,000 as annual sum, but it, as per the practice, insisted to buy books for `24,000 as well as subscribe to newspapers and periodicals, and hold some mandatory events. The membership and subscription fee are kept nominal as the library wants the children of the two nearby schools — K R Narayanan LP School and Sree Krishna Vilasam HSS — to make the most of it.
Library committee’s joint secretary N S Neelakantan Nair said, “C P Narayanan had sanctioned `20 lakh from his MP fund for renovation which made us all enthusiastic but, when we went to collect it, we were told “memorials” aren’t given funds. While some smaller libraries managed to avail the fund, we missed out.” But the men who run the facility, initially known as People’s Library, believe the efforts of multifaceted founder Pillai are so immeasurable it has to be after his name. A dramatist, poet, journalist, teacher and politician, Pillai had put his heart and soul into it to collect the books and keep them intact before passing away in 1987.
With a rich collection of books of many genres and variety of cultural as well as literary activities, the library created a buzz at that time, with the testimonials by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Cherukad, G Sankara Kurup and Vayalar Ramavarma, to name but only a few, in the visitors’ diary standing proof of it.
“In Kerala, we’ve a couple of other libraries, including the one at Ayyanthol, in the same mould but the unique collection of magazines like Imprint, Life, Jayakeralam, National Geographic and the popular vernacular periodicals give Sivarama Pillai People’s Library a unique status. It’s a priceless collection and it should be preserved for posterity,” P V Unnikrishnan, an avid reader and book collector, said.
Left observer Appukkuttan Vallikkunnu, whose search for the book “Onnekal Kodi Malayalikal”, written by EMS Namboodiripad in 1946, successfully ended at the library, where he spent a few days.
“What they’ve been doing is amazing and it needs to be appreciated. The literary, political and cultural activities of a period are reflected in the newspapers and periodicals during that time. It’s through them we can learn the true version of history. It’s important the KSLC takes effort to pool in all the invaluable material out there in different libraries and interconnect them so that information can be accessed by anyone from anywhere,” said Vallikkunnu.