THOOTHUKUDI: The hypnotic patterns of codes, the hum of the server room, and the sterile gleam of Chennai’s skyline had become a golden cage of routine. For Kumizhmunai J Simon Aravinth Singh, a former network engineer, it could not drown out the persistent itch for purpose. On a fine day in 2016, he found himself piling his belongings into a carton to leave for good.
The former techie chose to trade the predictable paycheck and life behind the screen to build a sanctuary of wisdom; a bike library, envisioned to be as big as the one Dr BR Ambedkar had, but not limited by location, resources or status. Today, he has a collection of over 2,000 books at home. Simon’s bike library sets up shop every day on Palayamkottai Road in Thoothukudi town, in front of the city corporation’s planetarium.
A novel initiative, the library on a bike has books hung on twines supported by rods, and readers perched around on footpaths. School children, college students, part-time workers and employees flock to Simon’s bike library as the clock strikes 8 in the evening.
Godwin, who was in a hurry to reach the library, told TNIE that his interest in reading books picked up after he began to frequent the bike library. “Reading under the sodium lamp, as the sea breeze gently slides by, is refreshing and helps me forget the day’s stress,” he said.
The mobile library has three sections: the first for children’s books, the books written by emerging writers swing on the other side, and the third section has books published by Kumizhmunai, Simon’s publishing house.
Speaking to TNIE, Simon said that he has been an ardent reader since Class 8. His passion for reading has fueled him to encourage youth to read and write books, pen poems, and craft other literary works.
“Even though my journey with books is long, it has always remained a hobby, as I worked at a multinational, to earn a living and tend my family here,” he said. “However, while reading Na Muthu Kumar’s ‘Anilaadum Moondril’, I was persuaded to follow a life I wanted. Next thing I know, I had quit my IT job.”
After reaching Thoothukudi, Simon began writing a novel. He also taught networking and software programming classes at computer centres to look after his family. “From then on, the world of books had become mainstream for me, while work took a back seat,” he remarked.
To encourage readership among youth, he launched the bike library in April 2024. “I converted my father’s TVS moped into a library to honour him,” Simon said. “Slowly the bike library started to attract readers, where children and youth would pick up their books of interest, and squat on the footpath and read under the lamp.”
This phenomenon slowly grew into a readers’ circle which now has a daily poetry contest, monthly discussion on authors of inspirational poems, essays and small stories, and book critique sessions frequently. Other competitions include book reading programmes in which one should complete reading three books in a month and summarise them to win a box full of books.
Simon’s frequent visits to book fairs made him realise that books by emerging writers receive little attention, and many young authors find it daunting to get their works published. He also observed that book fairs often fail to showcase the right kind of children’s books. This realisation inspired the avid reader to launch Kumizhmunai Publications in April 2024, focusing on children’s literature and young writers. Since its inception, Kumizhmunai has published 40 books.
V Muthu, a poet who writes under the pen name ‘Joe’ told TNIE that Kumizhmunai had set a platform for young writers and had motivated many to involve in writing. As opposed to other publishers, Simon only takes only a small profit and offers full royalties to the author, he added.
As the bike library welcomes a growing number of visitors, Simon is exploring an expansion of a similar model to Erode and Thanjavur shortly.
(Edited by Rohith Sony)
