A little shelf in a back closet serves as a temporary bookshelf – for books borrowed from the library. And it so happened that one particular week last summer, between Manasi and me, we had – wait for it – a whopping total of 19 books checked out and waiting to be read!! I have to admit, this was a record, even for our household!!

I really can’t say it enough – I absolutely love libraries!! No better way to support an insatiable reading habit! And libraries have been an integral part of my life since childhood. I still remember the stately library at St. Helena’s – a generous room, tall ceilings and large windows, with bookshelves lining the walls and reading desks with lamps set in the middle of the room. We had a dedicated library ‘period’ – once a week, the entire class would walk down to the library to get a book. Yes, get a book, not pick one – which even then, I found extremely annoying. We would queue in front of a bookcase chosen by the librarian – and she would randomly hand out books, without any consideration for reading levels or interests – worst part, there were no swaps allowed! We had excellent English teachers – in retrospect, that makes it weirder that library hour was not complementary to the amazing English curriculum we had!

Well, luckily, I had other libraries to supplement the meager offerings of the school library! Avanti library – a small neighborhood library – was one of the first I was a member of. A really small place run by a charming couple, walking distance from home, with a hodge-podge selection of books. Their bread-and-butter were the monthly film magazines and the Mills & Boon and Harlequin romances that were read by all the neighborhood aunties! They did have a sizable collection of readable books though – both English and Marathi. This was my introduction to the world of American novels – Sidney Sheldon, Irving Wallace, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, Ludlum and Forsyth – and strangely, Loius L’Amour westerns! Most Indian libraries have these frustrating subscription tiers – with limits on the number of books and magazines you can borrow – you want more books, sure, pay more! The problem was that even with the highest tier, I could never have enough! The solution – why, that’s easy – more libraries!

As I grew older, and more mobile – my mom and I subscribed to Jagtap library in Model Colony and I had one more called Utkarsh library in Deccan. The Utkarsh library was a dark little place, and I didn’t much enjoy going there. The Jagtap library – we absolutely loved!! It did have the 2-books-at-a-time rule, so each time we would go in, I would pick one, my mom would pick one – I would inevitably read both the books in a couple of days, and then would spend a considerable amount of time pestering my mom to finish hers so we could go exchange. I did end up annoying my mom to a point where she got me my own subscription! The Jagtap library was really good at buying the latest books – I vividly remember borrowing Pupul Jaykar’s biography of Indira Gandhi – English, and the translated Marathi version! They also had a collection of all the Stephen King’s novels – and I had to laugh at the episode in Friends where Joey has a copy of the Shining hidden in the freezer, because I hid Stephen King novels around the house all the time, gathering up courage to finish the book!

As good as all these libraries were – I was about to get the keys to a magical wonderland – the US public library system! When we moved to Peoria, the Lakeview branch of the library was a short drive away. I went in to get my library card, and when I asked the librarian how many books I could check out at a time, she was a bit confused. I was still thinking of the library ‘plans’ I was used to in India – so you could have knocked me over with a feather when she said “As many as you want!”!! Wait, what? That can’t be true – so I asked again. And I’ll never forget her reply – this is literally what she said – “I don’t care if you rent a truck and fill it with checked out books, as long as you return them all before the due date”!! And paid for through the taxes – so no subscription fees! Seriously, this was the American dream for me!

The next few years were utter bliss. I could read as many books of as many genres that I wanted – no matter how busy I was, there was always time to make a library run! Then came France. Without a single doubt, the three years we spent in France were the best of my life – except for one thing. No good libraries – well, no good libraries for English books. The public library in St. Ismier had a small selection – mostly romances – and I got through those pretty quickly! Although I was having the time of my life, it was a lean period for books and reading. I depended on reading and re-reading my collection, buying books on every trip to India and US – but it was never enough. The dry spell ended when we moved to Chennai! This time I learned about a new type of libraries – private school libraries! The AISC library was magnificent – I must have spent hours in there! The librarian got used to me hanging around, and would often save new arrivals for me!

Back in Peoria, before we even unpacked our suitcases – I was at the Lakeview branch. To my absolute horror, my beloved library was closed for renovation!!! Calamity!! Disaster!! I didn’t know that this disaster would actually bring me to what now is one of my most favorite places in Peoria – the North Branch public library! I could describe to you the modern, airy building with its huge glass windows, the armchairs and couches scattered around, the miles of bookshelves, the friendly librarians – but the thing I love most about this place? The feeling of coming into a safe harbor, a place where time stands still, the hush of the library drowning all the cacophony in the mind. I can – and have – spent entire days in here! I have since been to the other branches of the Peoria Public Library – including the imposing Main Branch – but no other has this same sense of peace!

It was the same year that I slowly, reluctantly accepted e-books. Which was a blessing when we moved to China – through an online account, I was able to keep accessing the Peoria public library, to get my daily Kindle fix. Also, from my experience in Chennai – I sought out the library in Dulwich College and that turned out to be just as good as the AISC one! Not many parents went to the school library, and I the librarian was always happy to see me and talk about the books I was reading!

After all these years, and all these libraries – the Peoria library still remains my favorite! Seriously, what’s not to love! There have been so many improvements with online holds – can you believe that if the library doesn’t have a book I want, they will order it for me from a network of over 100 libraries! And just last year, in an effort to encourage more reading, the library even took away overdue fees! Managing my library account online has been a game-changer – although it does land us in situations like the one I started with – 19 books at a time!! But I know that’s ok – as long as I return them before the due date!!

The cover photo is the Peoria Public library with a rainbow around it – perfectly captures my feelings!