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 62 books by 50 authors released by Pachyderm Tales August 24, 2024 "Where woman comes, comes Art. And what is Art, if not the effort of humanity towards divinity." - Mahakavi Bharathiyar What a day to remember - 18th August 2024! A special book launch event followed by an award ceremony commemorating the publication of 62 books by Pachyderm Tales was held at Anna Centenary Library, Chennai. Pachyderm Tales entered the All India Book of Records by publishing 62 books in Tamizh, written by nearly 50 senior citizens, within the span of one year. The team Ashtalakshmi is one of the seven teams who took part in this project. Rajeswari Iyer, Padma Raghavan, Vanaja Muthukrishnan, Usha Kannan, Rukmani Venkatraman, Jayanti Badhri, Uma Swaminathan and Nandini Lavanya Murthy form the team Ashtalakshmi. Out of the 62 books, the team Ashtalakshmi has written the highest number of 15 books. Enaindha Kaigal team, Pasa Paravai team, Malarvanam team, Saranagathi team, along with Radha Ashwin have all contributed towards this successful event. These books are all a collection of short stories on Forgotten Fine Arts, traditional games of India, stories for kids on healthy diet and habits, virtues, and patriotism. There are also stories of unsung heroes in our epics, celebrating differently abled people, their success stories, interviews of women achievers and more. It was founder Dr.Lakshmi Priya and co-founder Uma Aparna of Pachyderm Tales's initiative to invite senior citizen writers to write stories to convey their experiences, which will contribute to building a culturally strong younger generation. The main aim is to educate children on our family values, virtues, patriotism, good health and diet via short stories.  "It is our new initiative to have senior citizen writers .We feel that senior citizens are a source of knowledge, influence, mentoring, and friendship. This, we thought, will contribute to building a culturally strong younger generation. It is very nice to work with them. We got a chance to showcase this talent of theirs. They were wondering if they were so talented. They overcame many challenges and came up with stories that were exemplary. We have entered the India Book of Records by publishing 62 books written by 50 senior citizens, within the span of one year." says Uma Aparna with pride. Awarding all the 50 authors, all of them senior citizens above 70, recognised by the All India Book of Records was a glorious moment to cherish. The team Ashtalakshmi was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. For Rajeswari Iyer, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, Certificates and a medal from All India Book of Records, and a "Best Innovative Story Writer Award" from Pachyderm Tales was an overwhelming moment. "I haven't received a single medal or award till date and here I am with such prestigious recognition. Transition to transformation, my journey has brought many great moments and this one is the best of all," says Rajeswari. Dr. J. Radhakrishnan IAS, secretary cooperation, food and consumer protection, Bhamathi IAS, Ex MP, and author Rajendran, eminent writers and journalists, screen artists, anchor and news reader DD Shanthi Jagathrakshakan were among the celebrity guests who released and received the books. The dignitaries and audience applauded the efforts of the teams with the leaders Uma Aparna and Dr. Lakshmi Priya for this achievement. Dignitaries encouraged and motivated the writers to continue their journey as authors and boosted their confidence to attempt entering Guinness records.  An amazing audience, mostly from the literary field, was a great encouragement to the writers. To see all their stories in printed book form adorning the book shelves made each of their hearts swell with pride. One set of these books will now be on the shelves of Anna Centenary Library for readers' delight with a wide variety of stories in different genres. |
