Fully booked on love
From cover to cover, a family weaves lasting bonds.
FOR “instant parent” Padma Zachariah, 50, reading books together with her adopted son Sean not only brings them closer, but also gives her a chance to relive her own childhood.
The project manager and her husband, Soman Zachariah, 51, adopted the boy in 2012. Aged two then, Sean had already lived in three shelter homes.
Padma said when he first came home, he could only speak a few words in Malay.
“We didn’t really know what to do with kids then, but we became instant parents.
“We, especially my husband, read to him every single day and night. Sean started picking up the English language.
“Reading together really helped us bond as a family,” she said, adding that they don’t own a television at their home in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Padma said that Sean,Sean now sseven, has developed “amazinng” verbal skills and is aarticulate for his age.
She added that books hhave helped her son immmensely with his mmental and emotional ggrowth.
“Sean is a very empathhetic child. Last year, we wwatched Korean film Train to Busan with him.
“At first, the zombies sscared him, but he reallyr got into the film,f reading subtitlles.
“After the moviem ended, mym husband,
Sean’sS godmotherm and I sats down to discussc the film for
1.51 hours.
“Sean, then six, wasw able to articulateu the characters and their personalitiess well,”
PadmaP related.
For Padma, the simples act of readingr books wi ith her son also transports her back to her ch hildhood years in Ipoh, Perak.
“My parents were poor. Every weekend, my br rothers and I would spend hours at the Tun Ra azak library.
“We practically grew up in that library. I re ead my first book at age five,” she recalled.
The Zachariah family have collected more th han 4,000 children’s books since 2012, which th hey have added to their home library, named Ku utub Khanah, whch is Urdu for “library”.
Recently, they put up about 2,000 books for sa ale at their condominium.
Padma said about 30 people came to the ev vent on Aug 19, many of whom expressed de elight at being able to buy the books at marked-mdown prices.
“We are selling off books because we want to buy more books - my son’s exact words,” she sa aid.