78th Library Day.

 78 years back on this day, PN Panicker had organised a mammoth meeting of 47 rural libraries to form the Travancore Library Movement. The meeting was blessed by none other than Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, the then Diwan of Travancore. He, further, suggested that PN Panicker shift his activities to Thiruvananthapuram forthwith.

PN Panicker followed his advice and soon shifted his family - in two stages - and the rest, they say, is history. When the princely states of Travancore and Kochi were combined to form the Thiru-Kochi state, it became the Thiru-Kochi Grandhasala Sangham in 1949 and when Kerala was formed in 1956, it became the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham!

In 1970, when the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham was celebrating its silver jubilee, PN Panicker had set up a network of 5,867 libraries all over the state through his own efforts. He had gone to the remotest corners of the state, often subsisting on bananas and tap water, sleeping on shop verandahs, to fulfil his dream of setting up one library each in every village of his state. 

There’s a saying that “there was no piece of land, in Kerala, that had not felt the footsteps of PN Panicker!”

And during his padayatra from the northern part of Kerala to the south, he gave the Malayalees the powerful slogan, “Vaayichu Valaruka, Chinthichu Vivekam Naeduka”(Read and grow, think and be wise).

Today, a national symposium was steered by the Foundation on, “Transformation of Libraries into Knowledge Hubs”. Dr Shadrach and Dr Geeta Malhotra steered the day long session.

In the evening, at 4, there was a public meeting in which the Chief Minister, the Education Minister and Pannian Ravindran, our Chairman participated with the specialists.

Tailpiece.

Had got up at a 5’ to 5, washed up, recited my prayers and sent my wishes. 

We were out of the house by 8, saw the Quiz Competition Finals of the Vaayana Maasam begin at the Foundation and reached Mascot Hotel, the venue of the day long activity.

After the function was over, left for Guruvayur on a bypass rider. Aniyan was with me till Kottayam, around 2330 hrs.