Drive to collect well-read and loved books for children catching up

Passing on well-read and loved books to others is something that many still do, especially students. In an effort to spread the love for reading and books, Padma Priya Srinivasan aka Chennai Tamizhachi has started a book collection campaign called Puthaga Vidhai.  

Videos about the collection drive seem to have made an impact and several teachers have come forward to hand over their collection of books. In many cases, students have asked for particular subject books and a few schools have also evinced interest in taking the well-thumbed books from her for their libraries.  

“I wanted to give notebooks to children who cannot afford it. We first started it as a small effort and did not realise so many people would come forward to give their books for the cause, and most are well-kept. One lady handed over very costly story books for children. Over the past month, we got over 150 assured responses and from those have collected a large number of books. I have had to pause the collection for a short while since we are out of space to store the books. It will take a couple of weeks for us to move to a bigger office. Two schools have asked for books for their library, we will be providing them with books that are suitable for their children,” Ms. Srinivasan said.

She explained that as more books come in, she plans to create small groups of children who will take up reading as a hobby. “We will hold regular book reading sessions where youngsters can come and listen to stories and become fond of reading.”