The Kunnamkulam-based writer and miniature specialist Sathar Adhoor is on a peculiar mission.
He had made it to the Limca Book of Records for bringing out the smallest book set of stories and poems. Sathar is now on the verge of creating another Guinness World Record.
This time, he has brought out a book that weighs just 300 milligrams. The book, titled ‘`One’, has a width of 1 mm , length of 1 cm and a thickness 4 mm.
It has a total of 68 pages and contains 66 poems written by him in 66 languages. The poems were penned in Malayalam and translated into 66 different languages, including 9 Indian languages, with the help of friends living abroad. “It is so small that a thumb can almost cover it up and you can make about 10 such books with a single A 4-size sheet of paper sheet”, Sathar said.
“The languages include Vietnamese, Korean, Croatian, Ukrainian, Welsh, Urdu, Portuguese, Japanese, Albanian and many more. Though the book is small, the work can be read quite easily. When the intense emotions and ideas are expressed in minimum words, its appeal will be greater on the readers,” he said.
In Sathar’s opinion, it is a delicate job and requires great patience and confidence.
Faris Kottol, the designer of the book, and Sathar spent almost 3 months for its making. The aim was to set a world record for the shortest book ever made with the lowest use of paper. Sathar also said his decision to stick to small formats has been a conscious one and not borne out of eccentricity.
The 33-year-old writer’s literary pursuit and passion for creating small and beautiful literary works were patted by the Limca Book of Records in 2011 for his three books - two in Malayalam and one in English.
The first of the series contains 101 “SMS stories” in English and the book is 40mmx25mmx4mm size. The two other works contain 101 poems and 50 stories titled “50:5”, both in Malayalam, and are 30mmx25mmx4mm and 16mmx13mmx4mm in size. These books also contain several illustrations.