Take a leaf out of Biju’s book

KOCHI: An assistant professor in Thiruvananthapuram is helping people make best use of the lockdown by fostering the habit of reading books. He has launched a mobile library that lends books of different genres–from fiction to poetry, science and history. Biju Balakrishnan uses his Maruti Alto for the service, leaving his house every day with a stock of around 300 books. Of late, he has adopted a new strategy of parking his car at a random locality and lending books to residents there. “The aim is to help the less privileged; to serve people who would never have visited a library,” he said.

Hailing from Karakkonam, Biju teaches Malayalam at the Sree Krishna College in Guruvayoor. A poet and cultural worker, the 42-year-old was at his hometown when the lockdown was announced. “The idea struck me when I thought of helping students in the neighbourhood who cannot visit my home library owing to lockdown restrictions,” he said. “The response was so encouraging that I decided to extend the service to more people. I posted a brief message with my contact number on social media. It went viral and I started receiving calls from other panchayats as well.”

And Biju’s experience so far has been amazing. Citing an instance where he lent books to two school-going sisters at their house at Meriyancode in Kunnathukal. “When I returned, their grandfather, a man in his sixties, followed me to my car. With some hesitation, he asked me if he could get a book on Ayyankali. He was a headload worker who rarely got time to read books. The old man was more than happy to receive the books on the social reformer,” Biju said.

Since April 4, Biju has lent 2,850 books to people across seven panchayats under the Parassala assembly constituency. He is also the coordinator of Sooryakanthi and Aksharamadhuram, two educational projects run by C K Hareendran, MLA.  The new role gave him fresh insights into people’s reading habits. 

“Most readers preferred science and history books over fiction. And a majority of the borrowers are students and the middle-aged. The youth seem to be addicted to their phones,” he said. And how would people return the books? Biju plans to collect them with the help of local libraries and friends. “My home library had over 4,000 books. I don’t know how many of them would be returned. Still, I’m happy if they are reaching new readers,” he said. A former research officer with the State Institute of Languages, Biju has published three books.