Ailing publisher seeks a sellout

KOZHIKODE: Joy Rajan E.J. is dejection personified now but he is holding out hope for the 1400 unsold copies of ‘Nishabda Vasantham’, the translation of Rachel Carson’s renowned work, ‘Silent Spring’ (1962), known as the Bible of green activism. For, it was Joy who first published the Malayalam translation in 2010 under his firm, J.R Books of Kottayam and it brought fame to the book house. But now the 51-year old is in dire need of money to resume his treatment as his two kidneys are critically damaged.

“If the books could be sold, I can resume treatment. Around Rs 8,000 is needed for dialysis and other expenses for a week,” he says. A. Pradeep Kumar translated the work and it was published in 2010. Four editions were printed and more than 7,000 copies sold. Another translation by a big publisher hit the market later. Joy was planning an aggressive advertisement campaign for the book to widen his audience when he was felled by kidney failure five years back. “I collapsed and was bedridden for quite some time. Unable to bear my suffering, my wife committed suicide four years ago,” he recalls.

Since then it was the hospital and medicines for the hapless publisher and he had to forget his favourite world of books. He has no children and is currently staying with his brother in Thrissur. Joy’s friends and well wishers are approaching green activists to buy the copies through groups and individually. “Rs 150 is the price of a single copy and we hope funds can be mobilized through selling the noted translation and 200 other books which are neatly stacked at the press,” said Binoy Vargeesh, Joy’s friend.