(Source: Express photo by Vasant Prabhu) (Source: Express photo by Vasant Prabhu)

Carved wooden easy chairs with matching footstools, news from 18th and 19th century journals lined up in hardbound editions, shelves packed with books as far as the eye can see — a step inside the Asiatic Library at Horniman Circle is rather like taking a step back in time. Not surprising, since one of Mumbai’s oldest libraries turned 211 recently.

Tucked away inside the imposing Town Hall Building, Asiatic Library is home to over 1 lakh books, mainly in English. It also houses tomes in Greek, Latin, Italian, German and French, besides Sanskrit and other ancient as well as modern Indian languages. “Asiatic is known for its Indology and Oriental books,” says Maya Avasia, head librarian. There are also 15,000 books classified as rare and valuable, including first editions in Indian and European languages. “But the most requested books are on history, especially the city’s history.”

On any given day, a handful of regulars, around 30 of them comprising mostly researchers, pore over the history books, working away steadily. The other set is the easy chair regulars, browsing through periodicals.

Niranjan Mehta (81) remembers participating in discussions here with scholars including Durga Bhagwat, palaeontologist Ashok Sahni and poet Arun Kolatkar. A member of the library for 45 years now, Mehta says he enjoys reading in his favourite section, the periodicals room, for it has the cosiest easy chairs and the perfect lighting and breeze. “I like to read in the same place where years ago I sat and discussed the day’s politics, Jiddu Krishnamurti’s lectures, and characters from books and real life, with my friends,” he says. “It’s difficult to make new friends at my age, so these books have become my new friends.”

But the future of the library’s priceless collection is poised at an uncertain moment, with the annual stock-taking report of 2014 stating that many of the 10,519 books that were physically checked were severely damaged due to dust and rainwater. The library has no insurance and mainly depends on microfilming, digitisation and temperature-controlled atmosphere inside the library apart from a bank vault to preserve its rare books, manuscripts and coins. Simultaneously, to add to the bad news, the library’s largest source of income, government grants, seem to be shrinking.

“With the Planning Commission scrapped and the state culture department uncertain if they can continue our grants beyond the coming year, we do not know if we can continue with our conversation projects or award academic projects that take longer than a year,” says SG Kale, president of the managing committee of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.

The corpus fund’s interests do not suffice for much more than paying staff and administrative expenses, he adds. A look at the financial review for 2013-14 shows that the Society had a surplus of Rs 8,65,159. The largest source of income was the government’s grant, Rs 1.05 crore. “With this gone, we will have to cut down on a lot of our projects,” says Kale.

The library is now turning its attention to youngsters to boost its survival. It has begun offering scholarships for young researchers, and this year provided a venue for the Kala Ghoda festival. It is also teaming up with colleges for exhibitions, lectures and is offering summer internships for those doing their BSc or MSc in library studies.

Founded by Sir James Mackintosh, a distinguished lawyer who became the Recorder of the King’s Judge for Bombay, the Asiatic Society, which manages the library, began admitting Indians only in 1841. But over the years, it has emerged as one of Mumbai’s most prominent libraries, championing free thought and scholarship, engaging with citizens through a small set of public lectures and events.

Despite few regulars today, the library continues to ‘scrutinise’ aspiring members. “It is tough to get in but it’s hard to find such a library — noiseless, breezy. It’s a privilege for any book lover to be part of such a library,” says 23-year-old Nidhi Poojari, one of the newest members of the library.

With promises of WiFi and online services, the library to looking to stay alive and relevant for a generation that conducts its research on Google and reads only e-books.

anjali.lukose@expressindia.com

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