A little library from deep in the forests of Western Ghats was the focal point of an engaging discussion at the Kerala Legislative International Book Festival (KLIBF).
The session titled ‘The Forest Reading Room: Where Words Meet Footpaths’ featured P V Chinnathambi, the founder and librarian of Akshara Library in Edamalakkudy, Idukki. The discussion traced the journey of the initiative, which began with a handful of books and evolved into a much bigger institution sustained by community effort.
Chinnathambi, a member of the Muthuvan tribal community from a small village in Edamalakudy, began the library when he was around 60 years old. At the time, access to education in the region was limited, and many children dropped out after lower primary school to support their families.
Chinnathambi wanted to create a space where learning could continue outside the classroom. “Education can stop at any point in life, but knowledge should not,” he asserted during the session.
In its early days, the library held around 160 books, brought to Edamalakudy by journalists and volunteers who carried them through forest paths. Chinnathambi took on the role of the librarian, carefully maintaining handwritten registers to record borrowings and returns.
What set the forest library apart was its welcoming approach. Housed initially in Chinnathambi’s tea shop, it functioned less like an institution and more like a community space.
Readers were offered free tea, a small gesture that slowly drew villagers into conversations around books.
“I cannot afford to offer anything other than tea, but I am happy to share it if someone is enjoying a good time,” he said.
The library’s collection initially focused on literary classics, with works by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, M T Vasudevan Nair, Mahatma Gandhi, and others. Popular fiction was consciously excluded to encourage deeper reading and reflection, especially among young readers.
Building a reading culture, however, did not come easily. To overcome initial hesitation, regular reading sessions were held at community shelters, with separate gatherings for men and women.
Teachers and volunteers read aloud and discussed the texts, helping readers with only basic schooling gain confidence and develop the habit of reading.
“Another major risk of running the library in a forest environment was the frequent movement of wild elephants. One day, guided by a strong intuition, I decided to relocate both my home and the library from their original location. The very next day, a wild elephant destroyed both places,” Chinnathambi recalled.
As word of the forest library spread through well-wishers, book donations gradually increased, expanding the collection to over 2,000 titles.
For Chinnathambi, whose formal education ended at Class 6 in a tribal school, the library was a shared community effort rather than a personal achievement.
Recently, he began writing his autobiography and had completed over 25 per cent of it. But he lost the manuscript. With his health now declining, he is unable to rewrite the work on his own. “I really want to complete it with some assistance,” Chinnathambi smiled.
As discussions on access to education and reading continue at literary platforms, Chinnathambi’s library offers a counterpoint to formal debates, showing how learning can be improved when led by the right person with a clear vision.