Dehradun, Oct. 18 -- The Books from My Shelves

Books no doubt have formed an essential part of my life, while studying and now also. Hailing from Keralam, persons like me grew up under the influence of the highly literate Malayali society. The libraries, which are there in every corner of the state, are indicative of people's hunger to read as much as possible, be it newspapers, periodicals or books. Years after retirement, when I came back to my city of Kochi, it was very exciting for me to go back to the Public Library which had influenced me considerably during my college days and during preparation for the All India Service (AIS) examination.

During our childhood, academic studies were the most important thing in life. No novels, no...