Tucked away in a corner of Pahari Imli in Chooriwalan near Jama Masjid is the Hazrat Shah Waliullah Public Library that houses rare and out-of-print books Finding Hazrat Shah Waliullah Public Library is almost like a treasure hunt. Tucked away in one corner of Pahari Imli in Chooriwalan near Jama Masjid,it is approachable only on foot. The lane,too narrow for even a cycle-rickshaw,is dotted with one-room printing presses,including the room adjacent to the library. Hidden in this dingy lane is a treasure trove of 15,000 books,more than 60 per cent of them rare and out-of-print. The collection also includes 125 manuscripts. Leafing through the pages of Diwan-e-Zafar a collection of poetry by the last Mughal emperor,Bahadur Shah Zafar,printed at the royal press inside the Red Fort in 1855 would reveal that he knew not only Urdu,Arabic and Persian but also Punjabi. The last few pages of the book have his Punjabi verses written in Arabic script. Then theres about a century-old copy of Japuji Saheb and Sukhmani Saheb printed at Lahore,an out-of-print Bhajan Qawwali Gyan,a 250-year-old discourse on Sufism,a 600-year-old treatise on logic,manuscripts from Baghdad,Beirut and Saudi Arabia with rare calligraphy,a hundred-year-old Quran with every page written in a different style,manuscripts embossed in gold,and books sourced from various defunct libraries in Agra,Saharanpur and scrap markets across the country. Here one can see Ghalibs seal and signature on his Diwan,and books from the personal collection of Nawab Amjad Ali Shah,father of the last ruler of Awadh,Wajid Ali Shah. On the shelves one can find The golden calm: An English ladys life in Mughal Delhi by Emily Metcalfe. Besides Urdu,Persian,Arabic,Hindi and English books,the library also has a copy of the first illustrated Bengali translation of the Quran from Chitpur in Kolkata,published in the pre-Independence years,especially for circulation in Burma,as well Quran in Bangla published from Deoband. The list is endless. And all this is stacked in a small room that needs urgent repair. The members of the Delhi Youth Welfare Association,a 25-year-old organisation that manages the library,complain that lack of funds is making it difficult for them to preserve the tomes. The organisation,which distributes text books free of cost to hundreds of needy students every year,besides running a coaching centre and a computer training school,claims to have repeatedly appealed to the government for funds,but with little success. Says Muhammed Naeem,president of the organisation: We have never had a single politician as our member and that may be one of the reasons for this apathy of the political class. So far,we have managed with our own resources and donations. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage the library and we have sent several petitions requesting the government to give us adequate space and funds within the Walled City so that a larger number of local people can be benefitted. Adds Sikander M Changezi,secretary of the organisation,Scholars from across the country and abroad come to this library in search of rare books that are not available anywhere else. In fact,it is a collection that even many universities and museums do not boast of. The need of the hour is digitisation of these works so that they can be preserved and handled better. The library,which started in the 90s with books donated and gifted by local residents,is one of the few night libraries of the city. It opens at 10 in the morning and closes at 1 for lunch. Between 3 and 5 pm,it doubles as a coaching centre and between 9 and 11.30 pm it is again open for local residents. For those who claim that reading is a dying habit and 9 pm onwards is prime time on television,a visit to the library can be an eye-opener. For,here,one can find people relaxing after a hard days work with a book in hand.
