Kamlas India

Whenever I am in Bangalore my nieces and nephews know that there is a trip to the bookstore in store for them. This has become a ritual and the kids shamelessly question how much I intend to give each one of them to buy their books and CDs in the bookstore. They have the option of going to Gangaram’s or Landmark at Forum Mall.

How times have changed since I was a kid growing up in Madras. We had limited options and lending libraries were our main source for reading new books and comics.

As kids buying books was a treat, and we got a monthly allowance to buy whatever favorite comics or storybooks, or novels we wanted. I remember our monthly trips to Higginbotham’s on Mount Road, or the bookstore in Pondy Bazar. And when I was a little older I learnt how to buy books at the famous Moore Market (which is long gone), or the pavement book vendors on Mount Road. The one exception to this routine is when we traveled out of station when we would get a special treat and could buy books at the railway station or on our way to the airport.

I remember how my siblings and I would pool our money and buy Amar Chitra Katha, Classic Comics, Phantom, Tarzan, Secret Seven and Famous Five. These comics would then be bound with a nice shiny red leather (rexine would be a better description) with gold embossed letters, and these were then lent to our neighbors and friends, and in return we got to read new books and comics that they owned.

But, none of us had access to Archies, Little Lotta, Sad Sack, Richie Rich, Commondos, Star and other American comics. These were very expensive to buy and therefore this was not a high priority "buy" item for us. But there were a few lucky friends who had access to these comics via their aunt or uncle in "foreign" who got them these glossy comics. But for the rest of us who could not get these comics we had a different source. This is when the famous lending libraries of Madras played a crucial role in our lives, and I am guessing it played a similar role in many thousands of other people's life in Madras. To get our regular fix of these comics we would go to the local lending libraries where for a couple of rupees we would rent these comics to read. The goal was to read them as fast as possible, pass them on to our friends. In return we got the books and comics that they had borrowed. This pooling of resources meant that we got to read quite a whole range of comics and books.

There were quite a few famous libraries that we would travel every week to get our stash of books. There was Pick and Choose, Ramona’s, Raviraj, Perfect Lending (I think that is what it was called) and a bunch of neighborhood libraries that were essentially dives whose walls were lined with bookshelves.

Pick and Choose on Thirumalai Pillai Road was the place to go for all the American comics, and later on novels by James Hadley Chase, Mario Puzo, Sidney Sheldon, and not to forgot those staple novels Mills and Boon, Barbara Cartland and Georgette Heyer. And if you knew the owner of the library then you got first divs on the new comics and books. These new editions would be kept in the drawer and given to you as a special favor.

Ramona Lending Library on Nugambakkam High Road near Sterling Road was another hot favorite. The stern looking Punjabi gentleman (or was he Sindhi?) maintained strict record-keeping of his inventory, and nothing escaped his eagle eyes. I remember as an unsmiling and strict looking guy who never played favorites. Every book that was borrowed from the library was entered in neat-bird-like scratch into these huge ledgers. Each member had a couple of pages devoted to their activity in this ledger. The only time Dame Luck smiled on you was when the stern-looking gentleman’s wife took over the running of the library for the day. And, believe you me this was a rare thing.

The third one in the library pantheon was Raviraj Lending Library on Usman Road, next to Panagal Park and opposite Thangamaligai. Every time anybody from our house went to buy sabzi at Panagal Park, we would get a life to the library. This was a 2-storeyed library and had wonderful books, and the best part was that the library's lending charges were the most economical. What that meant was that a rupee would go a long way.

Besides these three libraries there were other sources for getting books. This was the circle of friends in our schools who would get books from their respective neighborhood libraries, and naturally we had access to more titles.

As we grew older the pressure to read and return the books increased enormously. I believe that is the reason that many of us developed the habit of speed reading and instant and on the fly book reviews. From middle school onwards when Mills and Boons, James Hadley Chase, Agatha Christy and others entered our lives, we would get peer-reviews. Essentially this heuristic device helped us navigate the wonderful world of books. Remember that we had no Internet access, and no Amazon reviews to look up before buying a book.

As we grew older the kinds of libraries we visited also changed. Slowly we ventured to the British Council or BC, and the USCIS on Mount Road. This is where we got to read Punch, The Economist, The Sunday Times, and a host of wonderful new authors like the Durrell Brothers, Catherine Cookson, Evelyn Waugh, Victoria Holt, and watch films and videos. It was at the USCIS that I first saw videos of Alistair Cooke, and ABC News hosted by Peter Jennings.

Somewhere along the way we got introduced to the concept of mobile library, where magazines were delivered to your doorstop for a small feel. This was a wonderful concept that allowed us greater access to a whole range of magazines that were otherwise expensive to buy. Basically you got to keep the magazines for a day or two, and then got a new set of magazines.

Later on in my travels I discovered that this concept of lending library was a quaintly Madras thing. Yes, there were other cities that had lending libraries and their share of BC and USCIS, but I do not think many of them had the range of lending libraries that Madras had.