Enid Blyton, Huckleberry Finn, Robinson Crusoe, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys — my soul skips with joy every time I chance upon these books. Anyone who’s born a reader will understand this emotion. They connect us to our childhood and the parallel life we lived as kids. The number of Secret Seven and Famous Five books we delved into... In my imagination, I lived in the U.K. countryside. Oh, the good old memories of childhood!
Those tales carried me through my formative years, made me fall in love with picket fences and dogs, and taught me how to form lasting bonds with people.
Books take us to a magical world where there is only pure joy. And, unlike today, when kids need to be inducted into reading, the earlier generations were born readers. Reading draws us into a parallel world that feeds our soul. We master a language. We up both our IQ and EQ. And are enriched by the beautiful world we’ve created in our imagination. All that lays the foundation for who we become as adults and how creative we are.
Apollo Kumaresan was born a fisherman, but is today the proud owner of Apollo Books on Othavadai Street in Mamallapuram. He understands the need for children to develop a love for books. He got his two sons to love books, but did not want to stop with that.
On the last weekend of January, he started a book festival for the children in Mamallapuram — the first of its kind in this town — to spread his vision to a larger audience. With the help of his friend Stefano Beccari, Kumaresan converted an open-air stone sculpture gallery into a fairyland of books.
Absolute magic. That was what some of the tourists who were visiting Mahabs felt about the festival on its inaugural day. Caroline Windfield, an occupational therapist for children with special needs, was in town for the annual Global Sculpture Workshop, and was touched by the little changes Kumaresan was trying to bring about in this town.
She volunteered to read to the kids every evening. And so, I went from house to house to get the kids ready and bring them to the venue. When she started her story about the three little pigs, we saw wonder and amazement in the children’s eyes. In that moment, many readers were created, and I told Kumaresan as much.
Kumaresan is passionate about books and he wants the kids of Mamallapuram to start reading. It isn’t easy to put up a festival, small or big. There is money involved. But he had a vision, and he did it anyway.
The collection at the festival ranged from books by Enid Blyton, comics and classics to fairy tales. A comic on the story of The Beatles became my best buy. That said, Kumaresan definitely has an in-depth knowledge about books and readers.
Understanding that Mamallapuram is a town where the world descends, and also that not everyone is fluent in English, he has sourced books in many languages. He has books in Hebrew too, stocked alongside classics such as 1984 and The Fountainhead , besides books on travel, yoga, Indian cuisine, Indian birds and animals.
(The writer is a surfer who runs a restaurant in Mamallapuram)
WEAR
A tattoo
Visit Vivek’s Tattoo
Studio on Othavadai Street, with a prior appointment.
BUY
Akka Creation, Othavadai Street
For tastefully-designed clothes using fabric from Jaipur, and handicrafts ideal for gifting
LEARN
Mumu Surf School
Come and learn to surf; it’s the beginners’ surf season.
