Thirty years after he graduated, B Sathyamurthy surprised the benefactors of a city-based book bank by gifting them a cheque of ₹ one lakh. The act of gratitude is the high point for members of the book bank run by the Rajasthan Youth Association (RYA), a non-for-profit organisation that will celebrate its diamond jubilee next year.
An engineering student of 1986-1990 batch of Hindustan College of Engineering and Technology, Sathyamurthy hails from a lower middle class family. His mother worked in the Madras High Court and father with a textile shop and their earnings were never enough to meet the expenses incurred those days.
It was only during the second year of college that he came to know of the book bank and approached them. “Spending Rs 500 for engineering books those days was a big amount and I did not want to burden my parents when I knew such a scheme was available,” recalls Sathyamurthy, who grew up in Foreshore Estate.
B Sathyamurthy
He remembers producing his father’s salary slip and applying to the book bank. “RYA was popular in our times and I cannot forget going through the melee to collect my books. We used to write all the books needed in a semester but we got three to four I think. A special day was assigned for students across courses to collect books, which would be neatly stacked on the floor with a token number above it,” says Sathyamurthy, who remained the beneficiary of the book bank the remaining years of his engineering course.
Later, Sathyamurthy went on to pursue his masters at the University of Madras and work for leading companies, including a stint in Singapore, but he has never forgotten the advantage he received getting books from the institution.
“My friends and I have been thinking of visiting the book bank for a long time but it never happened. As I am not based in the city, I started to track them online,” says Sathyamurthy, a resident of Bengaluru.
This year, he visited them, first in February, but could not meet the core team members at the bank’s office. “The second time I was determined that I have to meet them to give my small token of appreciation for the help many of us got from their service,” says Sathyamurthy, who is Managing Director (International Operations) of Kewaunee Labway India Pvt Limited.
“Some gestures are such that you cannot forget them easily and that’s what books did to my education,” he adds.
RYA: Going strong
Since 1964, Rajasthan Youth Association’s book bank project is a one-of-a-kind initiative offering free textbooks to needy students to complete their education. It started with two educational institutions and today it reaches out to more than 200 colleges in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Chengalpatu. Every year, close to 3000 beneficiaries are given a free set of textbooks that they return after the completion of the academic year.
“We have an annual event every second or third week of July where the books are collected by students. This year, as there is a delay in admission process, we are planning to have the event in the first week of August,” says Rajesh Kumar Jain, treasurer, RYA Book Bank Project.
For student-beneficiaries from Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu, an event is held closer to the colleges so that the recipients do not have to travel to the city. Jain says every year the Association spends ₹40-45 lakh to purchase textbooks and all the expenses are met with the donation from members and well-wishers.
The Association has started receiving applications for the coming academic year. For details, call 2561 0369 / 2561 0978 or check www.ryabookbankproject.com/
