A host of libraries dots the city, but do you know where to go for what? Each library, as it turns out, has a certain character given to it by the collection of books it houses. Want to look up something about cinema and music? Your best bet would be a visit to Roja Muthiah Research Library, and if you want to read up on Lok Sabha debates, you would be wasting time going anywhere other than Connemara Public Library. Here are some quick pointers on where to head this weekend, and what to check out in specific.
Read Aristotle
The only place you can do that is at the Madras Literary Society. A quaint building with an almost haunted setting that has been exploited in a few Tamil films, the library is home to Aristotelis Opera Omnia Quae Extant in Greek and Latin — 1619, which is also the oldest in its collection. Ask for it, and the staff might wade through other equally-thick and aged volumes of Travels in India and Treaties in the Far East (1680) by John Baptista Tavernier, and Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in Latin by Isaac Newton in 1726. Drop by to read a book, and you would be following the footsteps of renowned visitors such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Annie Besant. And, if you like any book, adopt one. (Check out the stall at The Hindu Lit for Life)
College Road, Nungambakkam
Are you an art enthusiast?
DakshinaChitra is a one-stop destination for all things art. Start with the art and craft store at the entrance, move on to seeing the heritage houses of South India, stop by at the spacious gallery spaces, and end your day with a visit to the library, which has volumes of India Magazine from 1981 (articles on Indian art and culture — out of print), Marg journal from 1947 (articles on Indian art and architecture), Lalit Kala journal from 1955 and Sangeet Natak (all issues)! Do not miss the section on bamboo and cane crafts of Northeastern India, temple cars of medieval Tamizhagam, paintings of TheRamayana , Ajantha murals, and more. Some of the usual visitors include art historian Chithra Madhavan and craft expert Gita Ram.
ECR, Muttukadu
Directors’ destination
Posters of cinema from the 1940s, including those of the hugely-popular Bhama Vijayam , Velaikaari , Madurai Veeran and Karnan , are part of the collection at Roja Muthiah Research Library, which is a treasure trove for those looking to explore Indian cinema and history.
The collection includes invitations for weddings and other events from the early 1900s, song books and theatre pamphlets. Library director Sundar Ganesan says a majority of the visitors include cinema students and directors; Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and S. P. Muthuraman are a few. Most research work for Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi , a historical comedy that won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, was done here.
Rajiv Gandhi IT Expressway, CPT Campus, Tharamani
Turn over a new leaf
The leaves are old, some over three centuries. The Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, which houses 70,000 manuscripts in Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu, Arabic and Persian, is probably Madras University’s best-kept secret. Among the collection is the over-350-year-old palm leaf manuscript with the original text of the Thiruvasagam by Manikkavasagar, which has travelled to Germany for the World Manuscripts Exhibition and back. The U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Library in Kalakshetra Colony also has 69 of the 96 palm-leaf manuscripts of Sangam literature.
University of Madras, Triplicane
