It was a bright, sunny day and being a Sunday, the traffic was comparatively sparse on the highway making driving an absolute pleasure, the occasional rough patches on the road notwithstanding. At 9, we'd taken a break to speak to our parents as they'd have been waiting by their telephones to hear from us and after our chat, continued with the drive. We're at the god's abode by a trifle after 10 and had a nice 'darshan'.
It was after our visit to the temple and a light breakfast that we stepped into the innards of the 'Sahitya Panchaanan PK Memorial library', beside the western entrance to the temple. This institution has a very sacred place in my life as it has an important connection with my family. In 1945, my grandfather, PN Panicker, had set up this library and brought together about 47 rural libraries in the then Travancore region to form a confederation of libraries. When it took its final shape as the 'Kerala Grandhasala Sanghom' after the birth of the state in 1956 and then went on to celebrate the silver jubilee of its existence in 1970, PN Panicker, as its General Secretary, had set up a network of over 5,280 libraries all over the state, bringing about a social revolution in the field of literacy. In fact, there is this saying that there is no space in Kerala that does not have the footprints of PNP!
There were a few young readers in the reading room as we took in the sight of the library. I felt as if every artefact was trying to tell me about its association with my grandfather. A very humbling experience indeed!!
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