Library in a Salon - Pan Mariyappa, A Reading Samaritan !

A good samaritan for encouraging reading and learning can appear in any avatar. Here's sharing about a soul who is championing the cause of promoting reading among his folks. The champion's name is Pon Mariyappa, a barber running a salon in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. The key idea behind setting up mini-library is to encourage people (of his district) to read more. The sincerity of this initiative can be gauged from the fact that there's no TV installed in the shop (which is generally a trend in barber shops), the customers are not allowed to use their mobile phones. 

The icing on the cake being - "30% discount to the customer who reads a book".

Hats off to such crusaders who are contributing to the cause of spreading knowledge in their own big/ small way and inspiring us all to do the same in whatever ways we can !

Mentioning below few links covering/ capturing  the story of the Samaritan 

https://www.mynation.com/news/tamil-nadu-barber-installs-mini-library-salon-encourage-reading-pnf1i9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNOchNVdMM

The Samaritan spreading light of education and knowledge - "Uncle Moosa" aka Sathyanarayan Mundayoor

Spreading the "joy of reading" is what Uncle Moosa aka Sathyanarayan Mundayoor has been doing for the past 32 years in the remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh, a state in the North-East region of India. What best could describe the samaritan act of this "young man" (in his 60s) than the fact that he left a plush government job in 1979 to pursue his passion of spreading the joy of reading. Hailing from Kerala, a state in the Southern part of India, he chose to work in an area which is very different in culture to his native state. To build imagination and creativity among children, Sathyanarayan relentlessly worked towards promoting the habit of reading and himself used to carry a trunk load of books in public transport to organize book exhibitions in tribal areas. 

It is only because of his efforts that the ares now boasts of around 15 libraries run by young "library activists". These libraries are a hub of activities comprising of storytelling sessions, skits, exhibitions, contests and workshops. 

Because of his dedication, Sathyanarayan Mundayoor has also been felicitated with various awards, roll of honor and inducted in hall of fame.

Sharing few links about the good work that he is doing

• http://bit.ly/2vaqRB6
• http://bit.ly/2tQbU3o

Hats off to him for his never dying spirit of spreading the love of books and reading in India !  

Book Review - Celebrate the Classics

Celebrate the Classics by Calee M. Lee

A short and easy read. I picked up the book because of the catchy title for a profound topic of "Classics". The approach of the book is quite interesting  but don't set your expectations too high. You start reading it with certain set expectations (as i did ) but few pages into the book you will realise that the book may not fulfill the expectations that you had set. This is when you need to adjust yourself to the approach and style of the book. There are still lot of take aways from the book like the list of books mentioned category wise. I did discovered few gems for my reading list. I must mention about the section on "Book Club" which was quite interesting and useful. The tips provided are indeed practical. The icing on the cake was the comprehensive list of questions towards the end. They indeed are some real "food for thought" and could be of use for leading interesting and thoughtful discussion on any type of book. I agree that the content of the book didn't do full justice to the title but the book had its own benefits. That's why it figures here in my review. The book is freely available on amazon at http://amzn.to/2tHdA2b

Why Read Books ?

Philosophically speaking (as some may call it), Books are a real treasure house of knowledge and ideas.   Books are an excellent companion and always act as the fall back whenever the need arises for that. I have grown up on diet of good books and they always acted as my guide and my savior too whenever I needed one to get back on my feet. There’s a learning (at least one) hidden in every book and all we need to do to find that is to open our minds when we read. Some books are like magic which leave us awestruck in disbelief and some are like a mystery which unravels itself as we read it. Books have a mesmerizing effect and real book lover is always living in trance and always creating a masterpiece in their lives and in the lives of others. In my opinion, the best gift that we can give to anyone is the power to read. 

Every book is like a new adventure and the only thing you need to backpack is the “power of reading”.

Beyond the philosophical realms, there is also a strong scientific evidence about the power of books and reading and the benefits that they bring to us. Here are few of those interesting articles that highlight the benefits that accrue from reading books.

• Books and Reading positively impact our brain and body. It also protects us from Alzheimer’s disease and leaves us more smarter by body and brain. Read the full article here http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/benefits-of-reading/ 

• Reading books is an anti-ageing activity. A study conducted reveals that those who read for a minimum of 30 minutes a day live longer than those who don’t read at all. There can’t any better medicine for living long that reading J. Read the full article here https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/08/book-up-for-a-longer-life-readers-die-later-study-finds

• Another medical study re-iterating that reading increases our life span by upto 2 years. Read the full article here http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/312167.php

Whether we live longer or not, cultivating the habit of reading will help us live life to the full J !