Frames from a heritage forgotten

CHENNAI: Over the last six months, I truly missed coming here,” says a 67-year-old Lakshman, flipping the pages of a newspaper, seated inside the 94-year-old Goschen Library (Chennai District Branch Library) in Chintadripet.

For the sexagenarian, who has been a regular at the library, for a decade, the coronavirus scare and the lockdown paused his daily morning routine of heading to the edifice (classified as a heritage structure by the Justice E Padmanabhan Committee), getting his daily dose of news and browsing books off the shelves for a few hours, before heading back home.

“I am not inclined towards watching television. When I moved to this neighbourhood, around 10 years ago, this library became my go-to place. I am glad they’ve reopened it now,” says a mask-clad Lakshman, talking about the library, which is said to have been set up by P Vijiaragavulu Chetty, a well-known personality in the neighbourhood, to encourage the habit of reading among the residents. 

The foundation stone, which was laid for the double-height single-room hall on January 23, 1926 by TE Moir, a revenue member, who served under the then-governor George Goschen, can still be found at the premises of the 20th-Century building. 

Surrounding Lakshman and a few other book lovers in this no-frills hall, which was once also frequented by nationalists, are photographs of celebrated personalities including Subramania Bharathiyar, Jawaharlal Nehru, BR Ambedkar and their ilk.

Age-old wooden racks and steel bookshelves stacked with a few thousand books; wooden tables and chairs, and sunlight streaming through the powder-blue windows, shroud the library with an erstwhile charm.

During his recent visit to the library, this TNIE lensman walked along the now-normal social distancing circle markers, documenting its fading façade and tattered remnants, which are in dire need of intervention.