The British Council Library, KG Marg, New Delhi

My younger one is bit of a reader. The Sunday market in Daryaganj has been our usual haunt for the book hauls. But I’ve realized that the books there are increasingly catering to the market and the probability of serendipitously discovering quirky books has been falling. So today I enrolled her at the British Council and stepped into a library after more than a decade. (The Eloor Library, which I used to frequent since I arrived in Delhi shut down somewhere around 2014).

The British Council library has a decent collection of books catering to young readers. I quickly browsed through their Management, Fiction and Nonfiction sections and was not disappointed. (Neither did I get excited too). Their family membership, priced at INR 6000 a year, allows 14 books to be issued for a period of 3 weeks with two renewals which can also be done online.  The membership also includes access to their online magazines which includes the Economist, the London Review of Books, The Spectator, Foreign Affairs etc.

Now coming to the building. I discovered that it was designed by Charles Correa and inaugurated in 1992. It weaves together many motifs from the East and West including the Islamic Charbagh.  The most striking feature is the black and white mural, designed by Howard Hodgkin, representing a banyan. I’ve always found Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg fascinating. Formerly called Curzon Road, it’s the address of some of the most iconic institutions of Delhi – The American Center, British Council, Max Meuller Bhavan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the Hindustan Times Building. The Maharashtra Sadan’s new property is also on the KG Marg. I tried dropping by for lunch only to be shooed away for not carrying a government ID. The guard directed me to their old premise in Copernicus Marg. The Kolhapuri chicken was lousy but the Bhuna Chicken was heavenly.