Tamil Nadu: Warden for world of words in this Irular tribal settlement
VILLUPURAM: Studies serve for delight, ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business.
The lines penned by 16th century English philosopher, Francis Bacon aka Lord Verulam, flashed through the mind of D Rajesh when he chanced upon an impoverished Irular tribal settlement, dotted with thatched roofs, at Veeranamur where no one had attended school beyond Class 5. The disturbing sight, as the 50-year-old government librarian in Tindivanam calls it, was an eye-opener.
“I had just started my career at that time. After pondering for some time, I decided to enroll the children in the nearest government school and make them members of the library where I was working,” says Rajesh.
That was just the beginning. Now, Rajesh, who has worked in government libraries at Olakkur, Vallam, Munnur, Veeranamur apart from Tindivanam, boasts of enrolling over 3,000 children to government libraries. This apart, he has also helped students hailing from Irula and Aadhiyan tribal communities pursue higher education by arranging financial support through crowdfunding.
Ask him about the role of libraries, he would say it’s much beyond preserving books. “They are meant for instilling a love for books among the marginalised sections of society who are deprived of access to education,” says Rajesh who thanks former chief minister CN Annadurai for introducing government libraries with an aim to inculcate reading habit among underprivileged rural children.
Every time he gets posted to a new locality, Rajesh says, his first job is to do a field visit to the settlements of tribal and marginalised people to spread awareness on education and the importance of developing reading habits. “With the help of a few friends, I would then find sponsors to enroll the children in the library,” he reveals.
Seventeen years have flown by. C Sangeetha, a student of nursing, hailing from Veeranamur settlement is getting ready to go to her college. Her younger sister, who completed Class 10, is helping her arrange books in her bag. The locality has undergone a sea change. The thatched huts have paved the way for concrete houses, built under government schemes. “This is what I believe a library can do,” says a proud Rajesh sporting a smile on his face.
Twenty-year-old R Fathiammal hailing from Aadhiyan tribal community in Tindivanam is all praise for Rajesh when she says it was him who enrolled her in a local library seven years ago.“That was the time when books became my best friends, and later, I developed an interest in literature,” says the English Literature graduate who has enrolled over 15 students from her settlement in the library so far.
The flame lit by Rajesh is spreading fast. When change started carrying Veeranamur under its wings, the residents’ mind also began to flourish, as they thank Rajesh for opening the doors to the world of letters before them.