Mangaluru :

Lives of great Indian leaders will come alive to students and stakeholders in the form of books published on them, thanks to initiative taken by Mangalore University which entails organizing exhibition-cum-sale of books on their birth anniversaries and other important national days.

First of such many exhibitions to come formally got underway at University College on Wednesday with VC K Byrappa inaugurating book exhibition on Swami Vivekananda.

Brainchild of registrar T D Kemparaju, the idea of holding such events is to get Gen Next know about the lives of leaders such as Swami Vivekananda. Basically a librarian himself, Kemparaju’s love for books is but natural and he wants even the students and general public to benefit from the vast resources that university has in its library. Incidentally, a weeklong exhibition-cum-sale also is being held at Field Marshal K M Cariappa College in Madikeri from January 12.

In an informal interaction with select media on the sidelines of inauguration of the first of such exhibition at University College, Kemparaju said there any number of books written on the lives, works, speeches of leaders, but are largely confined to the bookshelves of libraries. In holding such exhibitions for a specific period during occasions such as National Youth Day observed to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, such books come to light for many.

The exhibition might draw a handful of students to begin with and the numbers could gradually increase, he said. However, most important thing is to make a beginning and get students to read the books, or at least initiate them in to the world of reading. Student in the normal course of their education will not read a book on Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi or other leaders unless it is part of curriculum. These exhibitions will now create a forum for them, he said.

The original writings of leaders too could be kept at such exhibitions, he averred adding that the university will make such exhibition a regular feature at all days of national importance such as Independence Day, Republic Day. “The university library on its Mangalagangothri campus too will be very much the epi-centre of such an exercise in the future,” he said, adding the exhibition was not held on the campus this time since it is an off-academic period right now.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Mangalore / TNN / Jaideep Shenoy / January 13th, 2016