Class VIII boy makes his authoring debut with braille book
Being a locomotive driver, a movie star, or someone rich and famous can be a childhood dream. But it was the noble idea of writing a book for the visually impaired that prompted Ashwin Thomas, a class VIII student at the Petit Séminaire upper secondary school, to release his first book in Braille.
The 12-year-old’s book, “Imaginations that Changed the World,” is a Braille biography of seven inspiring scientists. Appropriately, the first chapter is devoted to the life and achievements of Louis Braille, the French inventor of raised dot writing which helps the visually impaired to read.
Wilhelm C. Rontgen, James Watt, Benjamin Franklin, Galileo Galilei, Marie Curie, and Louis Pasteur are the other scientists featured in the book.
“I hope to publish more books about scientists to encourage the habit of reading in Braille in visually impaired people,” said Ashwin Thomas.
He was recorded in the Kalam Book of World Records as the youngest author to write a Braille book.
The boy was inspired by his father, Deepak Thomas, a dentist, who released a few braille books in English and Tamil.
“Some time ago he accompanied me to the launch of my Braille book on Helen Keller. When I got home I asked him why he stayed up so late at night, and that’s when my son revealed his plans to do something similar,” Mr Thomas said. “There are not many Braille publishing houses, especially for Tamil script,” he said.
Ashwin’s book was published in the press run by the Indian Association for the Blind in Madurai.
The book was launched by the Rev. Pascal Raj, school principal, presenting the first copy to Akilandeshwari Srinivasan, a visually impaired assistant professor at the Bharathidasan Government College for Women.
