More passengers in Kerala who commute on boats operated by the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) will soon be able to enjoy their rides by reading short stories, novels, poems, and other literary works.
The department, which first introduced a floating library on the S52 passenger boat on the Muhamma-Kumarakom route in November 2022, is in the process of launching libraries on more passenger vessels in its fleet.
“After receiving an overwhelming response from passengers to the library on S52, we have set up floating libraries on a few more vessels under the ‘Pusthakathoni’ project. The initiative helped passengers, especially students, rekindle their reading habits. We are now working on expanding the project across the State,” says Shaji V. Nair, director, SWTD, adding that Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar has offered full support for the project.
With support of NSS, PTAs
Floating libraries are being arranged on SWTD vessels with the support of National Service Scheme (NSS) units and Parent-Teacher Associations among other organisations.
The library on the S52 boat was set up with books donated by the NSS unit of A.B. Vilasom Higher Secondary School, Muhamma. Now, the shelf on the vessel has around 300 Malayalam and English literary works, including that of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Paulo Coelho, M.T. Vasudevan Nair and K.R. Meera, among others.
“The NSS unit of the A.B. Vilasom school approached us seeking permission to set up a small library at Muhamma boat jetty. Then came the idea of a floating library on the S52 boat. It takes around 40 minutes to travel between Muhamma and Kumarakom. The library has books across several genres and passengers enjoy reading in the pleasant ambience of a boat ride across Vembanad Lake. Many of the passengers on the vessel are daily commuters and they complete reading a book over time,” says K.S. Shanavas Khan, station master, SWTD Muhamma.
On various routes
After the library on the S52 turned out to be a hit, a second ‘Pusthakathoni’ was set up on the S55 boat on the same route with books provided by the NSS unit of CMS College, Kottayam, earlier this year. This was followed by floating libraries on boats on the Edathua- Nedumudi route in Kuttanad and a few other routes, with more in the offing.
T.K. Rajendran, a daily commuter between Muhamma and Kumarakom, says the floating library has “helped him get back into reading.”
