Living with rare editions

Glimpsing into a private library

- Mayank Austen Soofi

Goosebumps! This Delhi apartment is crammed with rare editions. Collecting them is Ashok's "janoon," his passion. Like any committed Delhi bibliophile, he first developed the palate for prized volumes in the city's legendary Sunday Book Bazar. This afternoon, the former furniture-maker picks out five books from his horde of hardbounds (leaving out many others that are equally precious). He sportingly agrees to pose with the selection--along with wife, the gentle Parag, who gives her name to their publishing house.