Books were, both literally and figuratively, at the centre of the launch of the second edition of The Hindu Book Collection Drive, at Farook College here on Friday.
Speakers pointed out how good books contributed to a meaningful and successful life and how great and influential books acted as game-changers in the lives of eminent personalities.
Film-maker Ranjan Pramod, who launched the book collection drive, a corporate social responsibility initiative of The Hindu , lauded it as a noble act. He said reading had not died, contrary to what many people were saying. “But we should be conscious of what we read,” he said.
“Instead of wasting time on reading meaningless messages and posts on social media, we should try to read quality books.” He noted that people would not like to part with their favourite books. “But we could give away the ones that we have finished reading and do not want to read again.”
V. Jitheesh, vice president, Amana Toyota; T. Vijayaraghavan, deputy general manager, Indian Oil Corporation; E.P. Imbichi Koya, Principal, Farook College; and Saji Kuriakose, director, Farook Institute of Management Studies, highlighted the importance of reading quality books by students.
Over the next two months, the drive, which was first launched last year, will collect books from donors and give them to selected government schools in the Malabar region. It aims to encourage schoolchildren to cultivate a lifelong habit of reading quality books.
Books will be received from donors at all the showrooms of Amana Toyota, and select outlets of Indian Oil Corporation as well as at the TBS Publishers outlets and The Hindu office in Kozhikode.
