S A Govindaraju, a familiar name to those who love the written word for his collection of used books, old documents and newspapers, passed away on October 17, aged 86.
He had converted the garage at his home in RA Puram into a library, called ‘Rare Books’.
“Rare Books” will continue in a different address. A friend has taken it upon himself to preserve Govindaraju’s books and carry forward the legacy.
An art director and book enthusiast, Immanuel Jackson (better known as Jacki) has welcomed the books into his home in Vadapalani.
Considering Jacki has a massive book collection of his own — 2500 books — and a profession that places huge demands on his time, he would have to stretch himself to meet the new responsibility.
Govindaraju and Jacki had known each other for the last five years and connected over books.
“The first time I met him at the garage, the library there was a picture of chaos with books scattered all over the place. Sitting on the floor, I started arranging the books and that is how we bonded,” says Jacki, who has around 50 films to his credit including Paruthiveeran, Aadukalam, VadaChennai, Sooraraipottru, Asuran and Thiruchittrambalam.
That friendship grew with Jacki dropping in now and then only to help Govindaraju arrange his shelves.
Jacki notes being asked to take over Rare Books touched an emotional chord. He had come to know that Govindaraju was bedridden during a visit to buy Tamil books, which he shops for frequently as they serve as reference material for his work.
“This might look cinematic, but this is exactly what happened. He turned and looked at me and gave me a smile,” Jacki recalls, adding he told uncle (how he would call Govindaraju) not to worry and he would take some books. “He was staring at me and after a couple of minutes, said “No Mr Jackson (that is how he called me) take everything.”
Govindaraju was holding Jackie’s hand, and the grip got firmer, betraying a swell of emotion. “He said that unless I thought this was waste for me, I should take everything,” Jacki says.
Jacki left assuring him that he would take “care of his kingdom”.
“A total of 117 sacks and 45 carton boxes were brought to my house,” he says, adding that Govindaraju passed away a week after that.
“Emotional decisions cannot be reverted,” Jacki says he has bought the books from the family and is paying them in instalments.
Since then the 48-year-old art director has been getting a flurry of calls from book enthusiasts who used to frequent the garage. His response: “Please give me six months’ time and I am going to restart the journey of Rare Books from my house.”
Jacki is happy to be in the company of more books but needs time to draw up a clear road map for how he should run the library. “I am computer-savvy and will maintain a database of the books, so that people can call and find out about the availability of a certain book,” he says. “I am only Govindaraju’s junior” and will learn the ropes.”
