The call of destiny

The heavily canopied nook in Wakro is as wild and remote as the rest of the mountain state of Arunachal Pradesh. Only, it has a small two-room building that houses a library and the habitual quietude of the locale broken by chirpy youngsters who have found a place to roost. Lohit Youth Libraries, a silent revolution of sorts, has swept the valleys of Arunachal for the last three years, beckoning the young natives to explore the world beyond the hills through books. At the centre of this revolution is the labour of a frail, khadi-clad man, a Malayalee, who heeded the call of the mountains as a young man. Satyanarayanan, a native of Thrissur, had come down to visit his old mother living with her younger son, Suresh Mundayoor, and family in Thiruvananthapuram. One doubted if he would call this brief spell a holiday. As you listen to the hearty, animated accounts of this man, who loves to tell stories to children, it would seem he was born to be part of a more innocent world. The anointing, heavenly mountain air obviously feeds his spirit. It was in the days after a failed attempt as clerk in a government office that Satyanarayanan entered the educational institution of Vivekananda Trust as instructor in Kanyakumari district. “Later, they asked me to relocate to Arunachal Pradesh. I found that a very exciting offer and headed straight there,” he says, cutting a long story short. There was no mention at all of the long haul a journey to Arunachal Pradesh was in those days. The unfriendly terrain, the harsh climate, none of it obstructed his vision of the mountains beckoning him. Once he was revealed of the official responsibilities entrusted by Vivekananda Trust of teaching and administration in the schools in the valleys, Satyanarayanan decided to stay on and experiment with imparting lessons through a self-teaching method. “Reading was near to non-existent as a habit among the native tribes. Only in the capital city and places around it, where the educated crowd lived, were books or even newspapers in demand. In my days with the Trust, I was convinced that traditional teaching methods lacked the efficiency to instill reading habits in children. I wanted to capture the imagination of children and make them want to read books. Story telling is one of the most successful tools for this, I wish teachers would realise this fact.”It took many months of coaxing for the government authorities to grant a place for the library. But, even before it was finally granted, Satyanarayanan garnered the support of National Book Trust and held traveling book exhibitions in the valleys which received huge response from the tribal children. The Lohit Youth Library Network came into being in March, 2007, when the Association of Writers & Illustrators (AWIC), New Delhi, gifted a library (books and magazines) which opened in a rent-free premise provided by the Lohit District Administration at Tezu. “Since the first library was started in Lohit, we named the chain of mini libraries that opened in various parts of the state as Lohit Youth Libraries,” he says. Today, there are 13 mini libraries located in remote areas of Lohit and Anjaw districts. Most of the libraries function on all seven days of a week while there are also weekend ones. Books are donated by well-wishers and publishing companies. The libraries have become places for youngsters to get together and indulge in cultural activities. Satyanarayanan joyously shared with us  photographs of dances, plays and group activities that children stages in the libraries. He also conceived volunteer-run libraries so that the youngsters will get a taste of running and coordinating the institution. “It’s their library, it belongs to them and should go on even if I am not there,” he reasons. He used to live at the Tezu library, but, when the authorities wanted the room to be evacuated, he shifted to the single room adjacent to the Wakro library. “All I want is a vegetarian meal and a few cotton clothes. I am more than happy with the room,” he says. Satyanarayanan repeats most things in a louder voice for his Octogenarian mother who sits beside him all the while as if she cannot afford to lose a single moment with her son who comes home  only once in a blue moon. She knows he will go back, for, he talks excitedly of holiday activities he had given to his team of volunteers and cannot wait to see how they have fared.