Chennai, Tamil Nadu News Today Live Updates:
It has been more than 40 years since SA Govindaraju sold his car and filled his 300 square feet garage with books. Today, the store tucked away in Chennai’s RA Puram has transformed into a space for book lovers in the city. The store, called Rare Books, has about 5,000 rare volumes, newspaper clippings and even advertisements, some dating back to the 17th century.
“Some of them are as old as Madras itself,” says Govindaraju with a smile on his face as he talks about his prized collection. The former employment law consultant says he loves collecting books, magazines and advertisements on temples, history, culture and also fiction. Many of his collections relate to the city of Madras, as Chennai was formerly known, and its history. “There are a hundred books here that are more than a century old,” he says. Most of the books are in English.
As part of an environment-friendly initiative, Southern Railway has distributed 857 hand-held terminals (HHTs) to ticket examiners (TTEs) in six railway divisions to replace the paper maps currently in use, officials said. The move will also enable passengers to get real-time information about available beds at stations along the route, officials said. Since cancellation details are sent hourly to HHT, fraudulent travel can also be easily detected, they pointed out.
