The aroma of books, sea shells and fresh fish lingers on the lanes of the Fisherman Colony in Mamallapuram. Turn to your right on your way to the beach and you’ll find Apollo Books Exchange & Library. The owner, Apollo Kumaresan sits inside, with a relaxed smile on his face. “Coffee?” he asks. It’s an offer I can’t resist; and before I know it, I have settled down on a chair in front with The Goat Thief by Perumal Murugan.
As evening draws near, surfers and tourists flock to the shop; some of them drawn to the foreign books section, while some others to the collections on Yoga, Ayurveda, Indian mythology, history and numerology. The more the merrier for Kumaresan; this is a parallel world he has carved for himself in this fishing hamlet. “This is a social point for people to discuss, know more about the events in Mamallapuram and its culture,” he says.
When I visit the bookstall, housing almost 10,000 books in English, Tamil and foreign languages such as Hebrew, Italian, Spanish and Japanese, the owner and his Italian artist friend Stefano Beccari are visibly excited about the upcoming Kids Book Festival that Kumaresan is organising this weekend. The festival, which is on its second edition, will display Tamil books, ranging from non-fiction and fiction to picture books and tomes on general knowledge.
Priced between ₹10 and ₹20, some of the books are aimed at children as young as four. There are also treats for adolescents — abridged version of novels by HG Wells, and classics by Rudyard Kipling such as Jungle Book and Kim , priced at 100. Out of the 7,000 books, 5,000 are in Tamil to cater to the children from the hamlet. “A new generation of children have picked up the habit of reading here. The parents do not want their children to suffer like them.”
There are also art intensive books that initiate children, who are still learning English, to get them into the habit of flipping through books and enjoy the addictive smell of the pages. Says Beccari, who has lent out his art gallery, The Alternative, as venue for the festival for free: “Through children, the parents will also start taking interest in reading and that leads to better communication.”
There will also be sessions on book reading, where the tourists will tell stories to the local children. “Even the children can tell stories. My own son did it twice last time. These sessions are entertaining because the readers are animated and couple their renderings with actions and expressions. We will occasionally translate it for the children,” says Kumaresan.
A fisherman’s son, he says even though his three brothers got into full time fishing, he “escaped.” “Books came into my life when I was in my teens. The first I laid my hands on were those small pocket books for ₹10 called Rani Comics, published weekly. I religiously bought them. Then, there was a childhood friend who would lend his books to me. One of them I clearly remember was Vairamuthu's Thanneer Desham , which had a visceral impact. It told the stories of fishermen and the problems they face.” Kumaresan’s collection now consists of 400 to 500 books. “Before this, I used to run a café solely for book exchanges on the terrace of my house. Then, I decided to open this stall in 2007. I started off with just 1,500 books.” The beginning was tough; he would go to Chennai and cart back books to build his empire back in Mamallapuram.
You can also exchange your old books with new ones here. Or rent a title. The tourists who stop by are fascinated with his collection of almost 3,000 foreign language books. Some donate the ones they have finished reading before they leave the city so he can build his collection. Then there are friends he makes, who support him, like the Dutch family who sent him a cartload of books from the Netherlands. “Now we even have a page on Facebook with 500 members and it is filled with posts on new arrivals and my reviews of books that I have read,” he says.
Mamallapuram has always been home to him. Which is why he gets actively involved in the town’s beach cleaning activities and art festival, another initiative by Beccari. “In the last six to seven years, Mamallapuram has changed so much. Not just because of the popularity of surfing, but the mushrooming of the guest houses, resulting in more interest by media and social media.”
The 40-year-old says he will never even think of moving away from the fishing village. “This is my home town. 75 per cent of the people here are family to me. I am also planning to write a book on my life in this village, the fishermen's lives and how fast this little city has grown.”
(The Kids Book Festival 2018will be held at The Alternative art gallery, Othavadai Cross Street, near Joe’s Cafe onJanuary 5 (from 6.30 pm), and 6 and 7 (from 12 pm to 8 pm). For details, call 9445632992 )
