I used to visit the Browser’s Nook library some years ago. It was a small, washed out, upper-storey room attached to an abandoned mansion. A wooden spiral staircase wound up to its narrow entrance. The steps were old, rickety and covered with moss. Creepers clung to the spiral like a green garment. Spiders crawled out from beneath the leaves of the creepers whenever footsteps sounded on the wood.
I used to tiptoe upstairs along with my cousins. By the time we reached the door the world slowly circled around us.
Inside the library was like another world, it was very dark with rows of bookshelves sprinkled with dust. Near the doorway sat the librarian staring blankly at nothing in particular. The only source of light was the dim white light that came in from the small windows. There was something sinister and mysterious about the library; something I never could understand. It was not horrifying, but had the atmosphere of something that was sad and forgotten like the song of a nightingale. People rarely visited the library those days, perhaps that added to the gloomy atmosphere of the library.
Soon I moved to my native place and everything about the library was forgotten. Years later, I found myself on a street near the library. With a brimming curiosity and a thumping heart I walked quickly to the place only to find it shut, abandoned. I had wanted to see the library hoping to relive the strange feeling I used to experience there but I guess, that was never to happen.
The worter is a student of II Year, BA English Literature, JBAS College for Women
