With books for company

Back in the late 1970s, our small town was proud to have a fairly large government-run public library.

- GNS News Agency, May 31

Nestled in one corner of our school premises, it operated from eight in the morning until eight in the evening, with a four-hour break in between. The library was presided over by a highly respected librarian — a reserved Gandhian in his mid-fifties, always dressed in a neatly pressed white kurta and dhoti. Whenever he had free time, he would be found deeply engrossed in a book at his desk. Periodically, he would rise and patrol the aisles, as if invigilating an examination. Even the faintest whispers seemed to catch his attention, so we children were compelled to maintain absolute silence — quite an unnatural state for us. The adults, absorbed in newspapers and magazines, had little inclination for conversation, so the library was naturally quiet. We school-aged boys, often sent by our parents to the library, struggled to keep still and silent. Sometimes, we were tasked with borrowing books on our parents’ behalf, armed with a small chit listing the titles to be borrowed or returned.My friend