NATIONAL LIBRARY CALCUTTA - THE PRICELESS STOREHOUSE OF KNOWLEDGE

The above page and the one below seems a description of the Amarnath Shivlinga and cave. 

The National Library in Calcutta hosts a zillion books, most probably. This book published in 1874 is still there but is gradually becoming dinner for book termites. The pages are so brittle that one has to be careful even when lifting a page to turn it because a piece of this priceless document can come off and be lodged between your fingers. I just took a few pictures of some pages that seemed relevant to my search and rest I took notes and took down names of other books and writers mentioned here.
The library is a vast building and each room could be easily turned into a badminton court if not a tennis court. The Reading Room is a sprawling area and sufficiently so with a broad spiraling staircase going up to another vast open area and then glass doors to certain rooms of the officials.
The Lending Room, where one has to submit a form and then pay a small sum as deposit is opposite the Reading Room and walking up to the counter does not seem to end. So you submit the form at one end of the room and then go to the other end to pay the deposit. Now here I had to wait for more than forty five minutes just to get a receipt for my deposit. It seems the person who has to sign the paper (sitting upstairs somewhere) was not available.   Ultimately when I did get the receipt, I had to go to the first counter and then I was asked to follow a lady further into this huge room (more or less bare) behind a glass partition, where I was asked to sign and then take my lending card. Whew! After all this I was thrilled that I would be able to take atleast two books home. I was looking forward to a few days of quiet and cosy reading time at home. That was not to be. The book shown here and other books could not be loaned, as these are out of prints. That too I had to carry the desired book/s from the Reading Room to the Lending Room first counter, to be told - "No". So carry the books to a table suitable enough to read such brittle books and search what could be most important and relevant pages and jot down them on a form which needs to be filled up and signed by an official in the Reading Room and then to be counter-signed by another official sitting upstairs. So I go up the spiral stairs search for this person's room, get it signed and then take the lift down stairs to walk up the vast space to the Reading Room and my designated table. These pictures are a result of that exercise.
These books cannot be xeroxed and they have not yet been scanned and digitalised into a compact file. Even if they were, it would be another long-drawn exercise of going up and down and across vast spaces a number of times before the scanned copy could be in your hands., I had that experience once when we got the certified copy of the whole book - Holy Kailas by Buddha Bose. Scanning is allowed for one-third part of the book, and so is the rule with getting a xerox done. Holy Kailas was given a special permission because Buddha Bose was my son's grandfather and the book is out of print. I haven't yet written about how and when I got these books in my hand. Though everything is supposed to be computerised, unfortunately the computer does not work inside the library; so you have to search manually for every book you wish to read. But that is fun because it is a hands-on experience; however, waiting for the asked-for books to be fished out from some den underground (?) is nerve-wracking. It can take 45 minutes, as they say, or could take hours. What is worse is that after waiting for nearly half a day, the answer comes as - "sorry, book not found." This happened when I issued a requirement for the "Dehradun" by A. Ross. At the end of the day I get to know that the book cannot be found. This book is not available anywhere.
Why am I making an issue out of my library experience? Simply because I would much rather get my book asap and spend ample time reading it. I found I spend more time searching for any book and then issuing a requirement and then waiting for the book to materialise from the library archives. I search for books to do some research of my own and I am sure anyone who is searching and researching needs more time with the books.
I really and sincerely wish that the National Library in Calcutta would be more efficient by being wholly computerised at the earliest. Also please scan these types of books before they succumb to mites and rats. These books contain so much of actual facts pertaining to the terrain, culture, community, roads etc that a whole history can evolve out of them. Written by foreigners does not mean they are irrelevant; strip off the British deign from the descriptions and get to the core - you have a gem. I am still waiting for the Indian Affairs written by Frederick John Shore. Yes I found out it is available on amazon site but the price is steep.
And this I am talking about the new building, Bhasha Bhavan. I used to go to the old building in the mid 70s, which is now under some renovation and refurbishing to be turned into a heritage building, as I heard. The work has been going on for quite sometime.
Yes, National Library is a storehouse of knowledge. Please some one take note and do everything possible to preserve the priceless contents of the library. I asked for the Patanjali and when it was issued I found that I was the first person to have asked for it ever since it came into the library! I wish I had taken a snapshot of the page.
This is a storehouse that even Google cannot compete with.