The 81st Grandhasala Dinam..

Dateline 14 Sep

81 years ago, on this date, PN Panicker had set up the Travancore Grandhasala Sangham at a glittering function in Ambalappuzha with 47 libraries. More than 2,000 people had participated in the conference, with the then diwan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, inaugurating it.

Travancore Grandhasala Sangham became the Thiru-Kochi Grandhasala Sangham in 1949 on the merger of the princely states of Travancore and Kochi  and went on to become the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham in 1956 on the formation of the state of Keralam.

PN Panicker, along with his dedicated brand of library workers, set up a network of 5,280 libraries all over the state by 1970 when the Sangham was celebrating its silver jubilee. And it was a thriving people's movement.

This was made possible only because of the young government primary school teacher's vision of setting up a library in every village of his state.

He'd given the Malayalees the powerful slogan of "Vaayichu valaruka, Chinthichu vivekanm neduka".

Today we celebrate is as the "Library Day" with a national conference at the Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram from 1000 to 1700 hrs. The deliberations shall be on "Knowledge Centres enhancing community living".

Tailpiece.

Got the Thiruvananthapuram-Guruvayur Intercity Express train and reached The Quarterdeck at 1 AM.