With Sivaranjani V |
Mr Manushyaputhiran throwing light on literature, life and their intersections
The Chennai Students’ Readers Forum, an initiative of the Chennai Local Library Authority, inaugurated its WCC chapter on 8 August 2023, in Bamford Hall. Conceptualised by Mr Manushyaputhiran, Chairman, Local Library Authority, Chennai, the forum intends to stimulate the reading and literary interests of students and enable them to channelise their literary talents by putting them in contact with writers, translators and other individuals of literary expertise.
The inaugural function was presided over by the Principal, Dr Lilian I Jasper, poet and writer Mr Manushyaputhiran, Mr G Olivannan, Coordinator, Chennai Students’ Readers Forum, Dr Lisa Sheba Rani J, Librarian of WCC, Dr S Kamatchi, Librarian and Information Officer, Anna Centenary Library, Chennai, Dr Phebe Stella A, HOD of Tamil, Shift II, WCC, and Dr Bhavani Rekha, HOD of PG English, WCC. The forum intends to cover all colleges across Chennai, with at least fifty students from each college taking membership in the forum, and representatives from the faculty and librarians coordinating at the college level. Student members of the forum would gain access to literary programmes and festivals, platforms to showcase their literary and other talents as well as other valuable resources through the use of a Student Identity Card.
Mr Manushyaputhiran delivered the keynote address at the function, speaking about his own calling towards reading and the power of imagination that reading would help stimulate in the minds of people across disciplines. Owing to his disability, he said that he would pay a small bribe to the local librarian to bring the ledger bearing the names of the books to his home, so that he could pick the ones he wanted to read and return them once he was done. He expressed the importance of reading in stimulating creativity and literature’s ability to harbour universal feelings with the help of poems.
The forum intends to be a collective effort, drawing from students’ suggestions and ideas and the last leg of the function was opened to questions and suggestions from students. Lakshana, III PBPB suggested the curation of a human library event that would allow students to interact with prominent figures extensively. Another student suggested instituting a podcast through the forum that would enable various discussions within the student community. Students who put forth pertinent questions and suggestions were rewarded with books at the end of the inaugural ceremony.