Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial library
is perhaps the most ‘happening’ space inside the ‘Old Campus’ during the day
time. In the ground floor one can witness loud discussions, people with
headphones waving at laptops, ‘under the desk’ romance and amidst all that,
people genuinely reading. This is perhaps what intrigued and finally convinced
me to analyse the same space after midnight.
The reading room can be broadly
divided into three sections. The 'couch space' in the eastern corner with glass
tables to rest laptops or keep books on. The centre of room has six tables,
each with six red chairs around it. And on the western corner are three tables,
again with six chairs around it. But the difference is that the chairs are
green in colour and the plug points on the table works. It is interesting to
note the colour signifiers - the table with red seats does not have electricity
supply while the table with green seats have. There are individual reading
lights for every table but the hall is well lit that students hardly use it.
Quite contrary to the day time, there are no
fights for the ‘green seats’ next to the plug points or corner couches. The
book lending section is closed by 8 and it is roped off, so the ground floor is
limited to the reading room and the lab for the visually challenged. Most of
the chairs were empty but lay at different locations, sometimes quite far away
from the desk, constant reminders of the day that had passed.
When I walked in, at the stroke of midnight,
there were around twenty five people in the entire room. Two girls sitting on
the couch, with their legs on the table, were deep in conversation. It is
interesting how the table turns into a space to rest the legs once the crowd
has reduced. Very few spaces inside the TISS campus are under surveillance and
the library reading room is one such place. The sofa is one place that the
camera does not cover and hence one tends to see more intimate conversations
there. I do not think its deliberate. It could also well be that the sofa is
much better a place for a comfortable talk. Throughout the talk they kept
shifting their gaze from their respective laptops, which was placed on their
stomachs, to the entrance of the library as if they were expecting someone.
A student sat on the couch facing the ‘The Speaking
Tree’ painting was shuffling vigorously the pages of a book that he had made
photocopies of. Another student, who wore a T-shirt which had ‘School of Health
System Studies’ written on it and was facing right towards me, had switched on
the lamp on the table lamp and was scribbling notes from what seemed like a
video of a seminar. During the day the people who are more interested in their
work tends to be concentrated around the green table. After midnight they are
more scattered as there are more vacant seats and lesser noise.
There were two groups having conversations
around the 'red tables'. I could not over hear what they were talking about but
from their actions it seemed as if one member in the group was explaining to
others about something. I have always been curious as to why groups chose to
meet at library ground floor which is a 'reading space', for their discussions.
One of the biggest reason should be the lack of such a space inside the
college. Apart from the 'quadrangle' and the new campus dining hall, there are
no places with uninterrupted internet supply which is open throughout the day.
Especially in the evenings, people often choose the library space, because of
mosquitoes.
The security guard was asleep on a
green chair that had been dragged to a spot next to a pillar where he could
rest his head. The reading space is only accessed by the students of TISS.
Except for the staff who cleans the tables every day morning, hardly anyone
else enters the space. Even the security guards, even if they are upset with
something happening inside the space, stands outside and tells. Understandably,
they do not like it when the students make noise or switch on the lights next
to the space were they sit.
At around one in the night, the
majority in the library walks out to the 'SMS' canteen to get a snack before
the canteen closes. The return back at different times, some don't, but
generally, I noticed that everyone are back with an hour. After they return,
some people move to the cyber library on the first floor. By then the staff in
the cyber lab, who wouldn't otherwise allow laptops inside, would've have left.
The lab is often more quieter and the air conditioned, so many prefer the place
for getting the work done.
One thing that can be noticed about
everyone in the ground floor (excluding the security guards) is the way they
have all chosen to wear comfortable dresses. Most of them are dressed like how
one would be inside in one's own house and that reflected how comfortable
people were in that space. One of the student I talked to even had his tooth
brush and paste with him. With filtered water also available, for many the
ground floor was equivalent to their home.
The night was pretty dull and there were hardly
anything that made you look at someone or something. The people inside kept
moving in and out, mostly for a small walk or to attend phone calls. Students
from the cyber library kept going out but nobody wanted to use the space in the
ground floor. By around three, only one person had left. Surprisingly everyone
had maintained their levels of intensity in whatever they were doing.
The only incident worth mentioning,
was my brief conversation with the security guard sitting outside the library.
He had woken up by the sound I made while entering the library after a brief
stroll and could not come to terms with the fact that I was a student. ID card
and persuasion convinced him to finally allow me to enter.
The whole night was a huge contrast to the day
time where there is life bustling in every corner. It is very difficult to come
to a conclusion as to what type of people who generally visits people. One can
safely assume it gets more crowded on during the exams. Most of the remaining
group left by 4:00 a.m and the one person who was remaining lived in a house
outside the campus.
My observation and analysis of the
space is in no way complete or comprehensive. It is not exactly the same group
that visits the library every day. What one can safely assume about the ground
floor in the library is the fact that it is much beyond a reading space. It is
where people like to meet up and discuss things. Silence is next to absent in
the hall and there are hardly any boards/signs asking the students to keep
quiet. The saddest part is how the library is no longer very reader friendly.
4:53 PM
Nevin
