Old world wisdom

Its strange how sometimes you stumble upon some forgotten nook and cranny that few people would give a second glance, which can throw up some words that stick with you and sets off a chain of thoughts...

I came across a marble slab engraved on the side of the entrance of the Delhi Public library in Old Delhi. I had gone with G since she wanted to get some books reissued. I was standing outside my head full of the music pouring out my ipod when I started to look over the side of the entrance.

I read that the building which houses one of the best library in the country (and precious few even know of its existence!!! Before G, I was an accomplice to the ignorance) was donated in 1944 by Seth Ramkrishna Dalmia. I was digesting this when I saw the marble engraving on the other side.

The marble was scratched and dirty and looked typically inconspicuous. I wonder how many people have actually stood there and read it.

It gave a quaint feeling as if it was a sentinel of good sense which everyone seems to have forgotten about but it still stands to proclaim what it has to say

I wondered how many people today, no matter how rich, can donate a building towards housing a library. Libraries were considered essential to building the foundation of a civilized and a thinking society. I remember reading about Thomas Jefferson donating his house to the city library.

The cynics among us might say that donating one house among many is not a big deal for these people and it was probably an ego-rush for them in any case. Even in that case, better to have an ego rush by donating a building to house a library than by buying a Maybach for your daughter's 18th birthday or having your a wedding beside Buckingham Palace...

Then it was time to think about the library itself. Some people feel that they are becoming outdated what with almost every book available at a click of a mouse and more becoming available everyday. Maybe, but that's in the far future as far as most people in this country are concerned. For a huge majority of the people, libraries (especially the one like the Delhi Public Library with its Rs 5 annual charge and one of the best collections of books I have seen) are a very cost effective way to get access to a lot of written material that would otherwise be permanently out of reach for them. No book at any decent bookshop would cost below 250/-. You cannot really indulge in variety reading when a couple of books can set you back by a grand.

Just a thought. If all those misguided people who join medieval religious groups like RSS, VHP or regional chauvinistic groups like MNS had been given access (ie made aware of the benefits) to a library like this one, wouldn't they have resisted the nonsensical poison that is poured into their brains? If they had been introduced to the joy of turning pages in their idle time, would they have wanted to twirl lathis in the ground or go smashing windows? I dont think so.

I think that we should have more libraries, not less. Gurgaon boasts of many things. I would have preferred a big public library over a golf course anyday, but then that's me...

Wide knowledge that only libraries like this one (not like British council library with a pitiful collection and annual charges that run in triple thousand odd) can provide is fundamental to our development if channelized properly.

After all, as Seth Ramkrishna Dalmia had got engraved more than 60 years ago..."the largest of empires and the mightiest of conquerors exist only in the dust of archives"...

Knowledge survives, Golf courses, like empires don't...

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