Reading under the table @ Tulika’s new bookstore is designed to bring out the inner bookworm in every child
Open sesame The new Tulika store in Chennai.
Entering Tulika’s new bookstore in Chennai’s Manickam Avenue is like getting into a magical space dazzling with colours and light. I make my way through a crowd of kids with their parents — all of them either browsing, reading or buying books. The stuffed toys, pictures and posters in the corners, along with the stands stacked with brightly illustrated books, make me wish I were a child again, happy and protected in my private biblio paradise.
A generation of children have grown up reading these books. With the demand for its books growing over the years, Tulika moved to this much bigger space in Alwarpet in June, in time for its 22nd anniversary celebrations.
Stories in colour
Radhika Menon, who founded Tulika, says, “Creating a space for books and finding ways of engaging children with books, their authors, illustrators and translators, is a way of creating a deeper interest in books. Some parents have told me how their children, who were reluctant readers at first, slowly became drawn to books as they visited the store regularly, browsed books, and were allowed to choose the ones that interested them.”
A customer, Amrita Mukherjee, tells me: “My seven-year old daughter has always been fascinated by colourful storybooks. My husband and I make sure that we keep her interest alive by bringing her to Tulika every Saturday.”
Spending time in Tulika, it seems, contrary to popular fears, that physical books are under no threat from ebooks. When I suggest this to Menon, she says that in India, e-books are still at a developmental stage, with people trying out different models. “None of them has really worked the way it was envisioned,” she says. Footfalls in Tulika’s new store have doubled from what it was in the old space, with new customers joining the regulars. What is the demography of the customers? “Parents with babies in their arms, grandparents happy to spend time browsing and reading to the little ones, apart from the usual customers…”
“Among our loyalists are many schools and NGOs,” says Menon. “Schools come to pick up books for their libraries and activity centres. Some of them come from out of town specifically to get our books. We have had government officials coming in; many come looking particularly for Indian-language books,” Menon adds.
Tulika plans to host book launches, talks and readings in the new space. As Menon says, “We have always wanted to have events around Indian-language books as a way of promoting them among children who only read English books. We also urge parents and teachers to use them.”
The first such event at Tulika was author Jeeva Raghunath’s session called ‘Kekkalaam, Pesalaam, Padikkalaam’ (Listen, Speak, Learn) held in July. “It was an immersive experience for children, with songs, riddles and interactive stories, all in Tamil. It went with the release of our latest English-Tamil bilingual book, Menon says.
There are also plans to rope in children’s author Sandhya Rao to start a Tulika Book Club for older children, who will meet regularly for readings, discussions and creative writing. Menon says, “The new store has been designed to give children a new reading experience. When on the second or third day we found a child who had come straight from school lying under the table reading a book while his mother browsed, we were sure that we had been successful in our aim.”
For now there are no plans to expand outside Chennai, but Menon is open to the idea of people starting up Tulika bookstores in other cities. A piece of Tulika everywhere sounds rather good actually.
Spending time here, it may seem that physical books are under no threat from e-books
Source | The Hindu | 2nd September 2018
Mr. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Research Scholar (IGNOU)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
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