Along the Bank Road in Kerala’s Kannur, lined with many shops and a sparkling mall, are two old buildings facing each other, almost stubbornly refusing to change with the times. On one side is the Cannanore Public Library housed in Govardhan Mandir, and on the other side is an old residential building, both effortlessly beautiful with age. Both also have a bit of history to share for those who stop to ask.
One rainy day in June, Prasannan, the elderly secretary of the library, sits alone behind a table in the cramped ground floor hall. Book shelves jut out into the narrow spaces meant for the reader to walk along and look for books. The top of each shelf has a couple of letters of the alphabet to identify the bunch of books it holds. Prasannan, if you ask him, will bring out an old book that maps the letters to the books. “These registers,” he points to more dusty books lovingly kept on his table, “are from a long time ago.”
The library was built in 1929, he says, but he is not sure if it is the first in Kannur. “People who loved books and wanted a library here built it. It was started in one room and they had to fund it all on their own. Even now, the situation is not a whole lot better. We could use some help,” says Prasannan, who has voluntarily taken up charge as the library’s secretary.
Prasannan
He also tells us about the building opposite and the Gujarati families living there. “When Mahatma Gandhi came to Kannur once, that is where he stayed, with a Gujarati family. And his wife Kasturba would come to the library to take classes for women,” Prasannan says.
Local historian and writer Kottiyath Sadanandan says it is true that Gandhi came to Kannur and stayed with the Seth family at their house. “It is directly opposite the library. There was a building behind the one you see now, with a big yard and all. That is where Gandhiji stayed. Seth is known for giving up space for building the Kannur railway station too,” Sadanandan says.
Residential building opposite
Gandhi visited Kannur twice, he adds. The first time was in 1920 and the second in 1934.
The room containing the books in 1929 obviously expanded in later years to a large hall with an inner room, with all the books neatly categorised and arranged and added to a database. On the upper floor is a reading room. Here, the benches are occupied, heads bent over newspapers and books they seemed lost in.
“The library survives on the membership fees from its patrons, but it’s not enough,” Prasannan says. He hopes help will come sooner or later so that the beloved old library can sustain itself.