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Amidst the narrow lanes of the One Town area, Hindu Reading Room would not be hard to miss. Sandwiched between myriad buildings and struggling to be seen behind low hanging wires and a bus stop, this fort-like building has been left behind by the fast-changing times.
A small, green flex board that reads ‘Sri Maharaja GN Gajapathi Rao, Hindu Reading Room’, introduces the place. The visitors are greeted by dust-laden floors and heaps of marigold flowers lying in the corridors. “We donate these flowers to the nearby temples. That is why they are here,” says S Surya, secretary of Hindu Reading Room Organising Body.
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Unlike the city which has developed drastically over the years, the library cries for attention and upkeep. The hall on the ground floor is occupied by women who are practising kolatam —a popular form of folk dance. Two large rooms on the first floor of the building currently serve as the reading rooms. False ceiling hangs below the original high roof, ripping the building of the old era charm. Even after renovations done in 2013, at the cost of ₹50 lakhs, the floor has uneven cement screeds. Dust-filled window panes and peeling paint from the ceiling make it hard to imagine the grandeur of the edifice in its early days.
Flourishing era
Inaugurated in 1917 by the then Governor of Madras, John Baron Pentland, the motto of the room was to promote reading during colonial times. One of the oldest reading rooms in the city, it boasted a full-fledged library. Today, two bookshelves with academic books divided into English and Telugu is all that the library has.
“In the early 20th Century, local zamindar Gode Narayana Gajapathi started it as a Hindu religious centre for discourses. It was rechristened Hindu reading room later,” says Velcheti Subramanyam, a former teacher and cultural writer.
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He claims that in the earlier times the reading room had old and rare books, periodicals and journals. It had a huge collection of books on astronomy, which was a major attraction for all those who studied the subject. The reading room then was a hub for intellectuals and literature enthusiasts. Stalwarts like RV Sastry, Srirangam Srinivasa Rao, who is popularly known as Sri Sri, and Tenneti Viswanadham visited the reading room.
“The reading room has been graced by the presence of Rabindranath Tagore. After addressing a gathering at the Town Hall, he visited the room and appreciated the collection of books that the library had. Unfortunately, nothing of that remains,” Velcheti adds.
Ravages of time
All that the reading room has today is three large wooden tables, covered by flex banners and a few plastic chairs. Sans books, the library survives on five Telugu newspapers. Surya claims that the reading room which is open from 9 am to 1 pm and 4 pm to 6 pm is visited by over 50 people every day.
Recalling one of his visits six years ago, Edward Paul, a chronicler of the city’s history, says, “The books were in a bad shape under a layer of dust and some of them were eaten away by pests. There was no index or listings to help find a book.” The members of the governing body say that the decades-old books could not survive the ravages of time and were eventually worn out. Rest of the books were destroyed during the time of cyclone Hudhud.
However, Edward states that it is not just the books that were lost during the course of time. “Earlier the entrance had a foundation stone with the date of inauguration and the Governor’s name engraved on it. That has now been replaced by a stone that announces the date of renovation and the names of people who donated money,” he says. When questioned about this, Surya says that it was the contractors who misplaced the foundation stone during the renovations done in 2013 and its whereabouts remain unknown.
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The true descend of the reading room began in 1975 when a cards room was opened in the library. It turned into a gambling den where reading had no scope. However, the card room was eventually shut down and a chess room was opened.
Today, the hall on the ground floor is given free of cost to several organisations to conduct cultural activities.“We also conduct classes for IAS aspirants who come from economically backward classes,” Surya says.
He states that the upkeep of the building is a hard task as the reading room survives on the money pooled by nine members of the governing committee.
The only source of income that the body has is the joining fee of ₹120 and a monthly subscription of ₹20 that its 170 members pay. With less money in hand, there is not much the body can do.
