Kerala's Library Movement.

Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the mammoth Ambalapuzha conference when Travancore Grandhasala Sangham came into being with 47 rural libraries under the leadership of PN Panicker. The then Dewan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswami Iyer presided over the function.

The Travancore Grandhasala Sangham went on to become the Thiru-Kochi Grandhasala Sangham in 1949 and the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham in 1956.

In 1970, when the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham celebrated its silver jubilee it had a network of over 5,280 libraries all over Kerala.

It was born out of PN Panicker's desire of establishing at least one library in every village of his state. He'd gone into the far flung areas with this aim in mind, often subsisting on bananas and tap water besides spending the nights on shops' verandahs!

In the process, he'd established this vibrant peoples' movement and there was this saying that "there's no piece of land in Kerala that has not felt the footsteps of PN Panicker".

Remembering the legend on the occasion with a salute for his perseverance, hard work and dedication!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 5, sent all the morning messages, switched on the hymns on the home theatre, lit up the lamp in the puja room, opened up the house for the day.

Made our morning cuppa, fed the cats and went for the walk on the road in front of the house. Exercises, breakfast and bath in that sequence.

A quiet Monday.