Palakkad: A book stall owner in Koottanad arranged quite a different gift for his friends who could not attend the wedding of his daughter due to COVID restrictions. He published a collection of stories by leading writers for his friends. The 56-page book titled 'Quarantine' was published by Subair Kurungattuvalappil.

It has been stated in the foreword of the book that the stories were given by the authors as wedding gift for Subair's daughter Fathima Hasna. She tied the knot with Muhammed Mukhtar, who runs a road construction company in Dubai, on June 1. Subair had planned to print the wedding card in the form of a story book.

But COVID lockdown was imposed by then and he dropped the plan. However, he could not forget the idea of the book. When he discussed it with some writers, who are his close friends, they allowed to publish their stories as a wedding gift for his daughter.

Following this, the collection of stories was prepared including 'Desh-Oru Hindustani Ragam'' by T Padmanabhan, 'Kattilekku Pokalle Kunje' by Shihabuddin Poythumkadavu, 'Lokavasanam' by Manoj Jathavedar, 'Biryani' by Santhosh Echikkanam, 'Chudalayil Ninnulla Vettam' by Susmesh Chandroth and 'Lotus Land' by N Pradeep Kumar.

Subair has been selling the books and publications of Mathrubhumi for 30 years through his book stall.