Exciting days ahead thanks to Kalaignar library

Exciting days ahead thanks to Kalaignar library

The last time a big project generated so much excitement in the city was when Madurai Bench of Madras High Court was inaugurated in 2004. Though the very announcements of AIIMS and Madurai Metro did create a buzz among the residents, who feel that the city is always shortchanged in terms of infrastructure and unjustifiably lags behind other big cities in Tamil Nadu, a sort of restitution has been made in the form of Kalaignar Centenary Library.

The six-storeyed library on New Natham Road, along the elevated corridor, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday.

Madurai people must thank Kalaignar more than anybody else for the library. Former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, a voracious reader and a writer, inspired by National Library of Singapore, built Anna Centenary Library in Chennai in 2010. Since then the nine-storyed edifice has become the refuge of bibliophiles. No Indian city can boast of such a modern library with vast collections and the comfortable seating arrangements and not to mention the views of a green Chennai from the cool confines of the top floors.

When Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister and wanted to shift the library so as to accommodate a hospital, there was a public outcry and after court intervention, the move was dropped. Such was the endearment people had for good libraries.

So when Mr. Stalin, after assuming office, made an announcement that Kalaignar Centenary Library, on the lines of the one in Chennai, would come up in Madurai, people down south were elated. But nobody would have thought that such a colossal structure, with many features that can even surpass the ones in the capital, will come up this fast.

According to Mathukkur Ramalingam, Editor of Theekkathir, “It is befitting for Madurai to house such a monumental library as this is the city where Tamil literature flourished through the ages and nowhere else will one find “Ezhuthani Theru,’ a street that housed palm leaf writers.”