Turning the pages of time

In our frenetic, Internet-fuelled world studded with cat memes and Twitter celebrities, the gentler pleasure of book reading has largely been consigned to the dustbins of the past. Not that I don't love a good cat meme myself but an afternoon spent leafing through dusty old manuscripts in an ancient library is an irresistible siren call.
Mumbaikars are lucky enough to have a wealth of libraries, some of which are housed in remarkable buildings. For instance, the J. N. Petit Library's gracious, tree-shrouded structure occupies a corner of the elegant D. N. Road.

The library sings a paean to the Petit family—a formidable Parsi mercantile family with hearts of gold. They were exemplars of Parsi charity, flinging their profits at animal welfare charities, orphanages, widows' homes, infrastructural projects and of course, libraries. "The J. N. Petit Library had originally been instituted in 1856 as the 'Fort Improvement Library' by Parsi students of Elphinstone College. Since the premises at Churchgate were considered too small, Bai Dinbaijee Nusserwanji Petit took the decision to provide the library with a suitable structure," write Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra in their seminal book, Fort Walks, "The new structure…was a memorial to her son, her husband and her son-in-law, none of whom lived to see the completion of the splendid building, which was completed in 1898."

Within its biscuit-coloured walls are rooms packed with rare books, including an exceedingly precious copy of Ferdowsi's Shah Nama. High, arched stained glass windows throw shafts of sunlight onto long wooden reading tables while old-fashioned fans stir the hot, syrupy air. The antique wooden cupboards and wicker-backed chairs don't seem to have changed since the library opened more than 100 years ago; its air of mildewed pathos is a testament to a time when the pursuit of knowledge and commerce went hand in hand.