A small fledgling library in Chennai: residents donate books, shopkeepers watch over it

A horde of details about a tiny little library at East Mada Street in Thiruvanmiyur are hanging in the air, but is has been pulled out of the back room, and thrust into the glare of public attention -- and that is indeed commendable. This library’s physical design raises questions about its longevity. It is wooden and cannot be left in the open during rains. When the skies tear up, it can scoot to the shelter of a tarpaulin canopy installed primarily for two wooden benches made of discarded wood and a wooden chair.  Even if the skies are clear, it is not all-clear for this library at night.  “The library will be kept back inside a local’s parking area in the night. And brought back in the morning,” says Dhanya Rajagopal, who is hoping for this temporary library to become a permanent one and rolling away ever boulder in the way of achieving that goal. Dhanya, architect and urban planner, is among the prime movers behind Project Thiruvanmiyur Mada Street, an effort to reimagine the Mada streets around Marundeeshwarar temple. The two-day event launching the Project birthed the library. It is integral to a space next to the temple tank that would be the nucleus of an exercise to not so much change the space as add a reason to it for people to patronise it as a social congregating point.