Lenin's tomb

Delhi's most enigmatic library

- Mayank Austen Soofi

Here, pin-drop silence resonates amid thousands of books. The library at Russian House, a Russian government enterprise, is in Delhi's heart, but the third-floor windows show nothing of the city, except for the sky, and the treetops of Feroze Shah Road. Most books are in Russian, and almost all are beautifully produced hardbacks. The mere act of holding a random volume is like drifting closer to an otherwise remote world. This is easy to explain. The icy frozen Russia is geographically closer to Delhi than Western Europe, but London-Paris appear more accessible to us than Moscow-Saint Petersburg. Maybe, because the former cities are more thoroughly enmeshed into our popular culture. This idea renders certain book titles in the library with a particularly fairytale appeal; such as Glimpses of Siberia, Azerbaijanian Poetr