A Scooter, a Thousand Books, and a Nightly Reading Revolution

Amid declining reading habits, you can’t miss this refreshing sight of  scores of people including children reading books on the roadside on the Tuticorin – Tirunelveli highway every night. The magic happens around a two wheeler turned into a mobile library with books displaced on ropes tied to poles around the scooter. 

The man behind this idea is Simon, a software professional who has a passion for reading and writing. He makes it a point to set this library up every night between 8 and 10 PM. Simon has a collection of 1000 books from multiple genres and brings around 100 books every day. Readers can also take them home, and it’s free.  “I want to promote writing for which we need to also develop reading habit. This is purely out of my passion”, Simon told tellmystory.in

Simon also nurtures young readers to turn writers, who’ve so far published around 50 books as well and his library features by these young authors.

It all began with publishers turning down Simon’s writings. It was then he decided to nurture reading and writing through his non-profit mission “KumizhMunai” or tip of the nib. He also arranges writers to meet authors to review their work and to interact on literary aspects, both in person and through their instagram page.

Aishwarya who has completed her masters in Tamil Literature is one of the regular readers here. She told tellmystory.in “I have the habit of reading books every day. It’s safe as many read. One thing I love about is the opportunity to discuss with real writers and this is very important”. 

Around a thousand people have so far used the library and there is a steady stream of commited readers coming every day. Encouraged by the response,  Simon plans to take this library to Erode and Thanjavur districts which have budding writers willing to carry this initiative to promote reading..Simon says “My dream is to have KumizhMunai in all districts across Tamil Nadu and to build a library”.