Back to The School

As the schools reopen in Kerala after the summer holidays, ‘Padavarambu’ (see Autobiography of a School) is in the news again. Yesterday’s Malayala Manorama, the leading Malayalam newspaper, carried a feature written by K. Tony Jose on this beautiful little book that tells the story of the government lower primary school in Olavipe. This institution, which was started in 1961, is facing closure for dearth of students. This is a trend seen at many places in the State.

The alumni who were behind the publication of ‘Padavarambu’ are determined to do everything possible to keep the school open. According to the Malayala Manorama article, all the profits from the sale of the book are to be utilized for that purpose. A noble endeavor, one must say.

The report also says that there are plans afoot to translate the book into English. In fact, after seeing the post about this autobiography in my blog, Sunil K. Poolani, Publisher and Managing Editor of Frog Books, Mumbai (www.frogbooks.net, www.zzebra.net) sent me a mail that he would like to read the book. I had informed the publishers about this and suggested that they send him a copy.

It doesn’t matter who brings out the translation. The important point is that the book is published in other languages as well so that the entire world can read it. The material is that good.

Ends.