“A priceless boon for Madurai people…” Pattimandram Raja about Kalaignar centenary library

Kalaignar centenary library was built approximately within 1 year of laying the foundation for its construction. The announcement for the construction of the library was made by CM Stalin on June 3, 2021. Now the library building is standing tall gigantically with 2.13 lakh square feet. The majestic building built at a cost of 215 crores has a total of 8 floors which includes the basement as well as the ground floor. More than 3.30 lakh books have been amassed in the library belonging to different genres such as biographies, history, politics, literature, economy, culture, children's literature, science and even astronomy which are arranged genre wise.

60 crores were spent for the purchase of books, 18 crores for logistics and 1.30 crore for book-shelves. Entire library is divided into sections like a separate section for receiving and returning books, another section for people bringing their own books to read and a separate section for children. Other than this, the library also has a newspaper, weekly and monthly magazines section; a separate Karunanidhi's works section; researchers' section and a rare books section. Additionally there are sections for students writing competitive exams and there is a separate section for visually impaired persons.

Ground floor of the library consists of encyclopedias and a conference hall with seating capacity of 200. The first floor is reserved for children which consists of displays of sounds and lights depicting colourful cartoons to cater to the age group of 4 to 12 years. The same floor has a separate section for Karunanidhi's works such as stories, poems, essays, plays etc.

The second floor is entirely devoted to Tamil literature with almost 62000 books. The third floor has English books, research books, magazines and even Tamil books. The fourth floor is exclusively designed for students aspiring to clear competitive exams. The fifth floor is reserved for secured texts and it also has a sound and light gallery unit. Finally the sixth floor is for administrative purposes.

About the library and his learning experience Pattimandram Raja shared a few words. "I was born and brought up in a village nearby Madurai named Keelamathur. My village had a mud building for school which also served as a library. During the 1970s every month 30 books were brought to school from the district library which were managed by my father. He was responsible for its safe return and any damage or loss was expected to be compensated by my father. Owing to this reason, my father was strict and did not lend anyone the books to ensure its safety. The exception to this was me who got the opportunity to read all the books partly due to the lack of reading habit prevalent at that point of time. During this time only I read a lot of books...." said Raja.

He continued..." I graduated from the American college in Madurai which had a majestic library. During my college days instead of socialising I spent most of my time in the library which turned out to be my hobby. Apart from the college library, the district library was in Madurai Simmakkal area which conducted weekly literary events. In one such event I heard Solomon Pappaiah's speech for the first time. This is my past library experience" said Raja.

About the Kalaignar centenary library Raja said...." My father's dream was for me to become an IAS officer. Due to the lack of facilities for competitive exams preparation in Chennai, the need arose for aspirants to go to Delhi. But today aspirants have got the marvellous Kalaignar centenary library. Earlier Karunanidhi built Anna centenary library in Kotturpuram and now CM Stalin has built a library in the name of Kalaignar in Madurai. Through this, the facilities that are exclusive for Chennai hereafter will be enjoyed by Madurai students as well as students from nearby areas".

He continued...." Kalaignar means Muthamizh. He devoted his life entirely to reading and writing and his name added pride to Madurai. After the assumption of power by DMK in 1967, Parasakthi movie was re-released and the dialogues of the movie which was written by Karunanidhi intensified the spirit of DMK. Karunanidhi wrote a lot in his lifetime and his works are praised for its simplicity and clarity with a touch of humour in it. There is no limit to the flavour of his works and it is only right to build a library in Karunanidhi's name. We have only CM Stalin to thank for this magnificent library" said Raja who spoke about the Kalaignar's literary skills and creativity.

Political critic and writer Arunan said, "In the technology world books can be read on phones, computers, tablets etc. Compared to the experience of reading a book in printed form, the experience of reading a book in digital form is irritating to the eye. A library becomes a necessity to experience the comfort of reading a book in printed form. In this way, a magnificent library in the name of Kalaignar Karunanidhi is a boon to Madurai".

Libraries are a boon to society!!!!!