Thevervelil Publishers

Ranni is a quiet place, and our publishing house fits right in with that. Thevervelil Publishers is basically a building full of paper and the smell of ink. We have been printing things here for a long time, mostly local stuff that people in the community need. It is not a massive operation with high-speed presses. We use older machines that need a bit of poking and prodding to keep them running smooth. My hands are usually stained with black ink by the end of the day, and it never really washes off completely. We spend a lot of time proofreading and checking pages before they go to the binder. Sometimes an author will come in and sit with us for hours, talking about their book while we try to get the layout right. The shelves in the back are overflowing with old samples and stacks of paper that we might use one day. We don't have a fancy storefront. Most people just walk through the side door and find us among the stacks. It’s a lot of manual work, carrying heavy boxes of books and moving paper around. When the monsoon hits, we have to be really careful to keep everything dry because damp paper is useless. It’s a steady life, and we like the fact that we are making things people can actually hold in their hands and read.