Malleswaram Folks, Did You Know About This Quaint Library With An Annual Membership Of INR 200?

In an age of Kindles and e-books, Quills Library in Malleswaram is keeping the book-reading habit alive with its lending library system.

Located inside the parking lot of an apartment building, with a neat little poster displaying “Quills” at the door, Quills Library is #HomeLibraryGoals in reality. As you enter, the first thing that catches your eye is the pile of books next to a stately chair. Given the library’s rather cosy and homely vibes, you could imagine a granny sitting on the chair and reading out a story to eager listeners seated on the carpet. But given the pile of books are mainly Harry Potter, we are imagining Dumbledore reading out the Tales of Beedle the Bard to a bunch of 7-year old wizards and witches.

Moving on, your eyes will rest up on the four steel shelves filled with books ranging from academic to fiction and comics, and classics to children’s literature. While the collection is not extensive and most of the books might be already in your collection, we did spot some gold. For instance, illustrated versions of classics such as Hamlet, Dr Jekyll & Hyde, and A Journey to the Centre of Earth, and old copies of Commando comics. Also, spotted were non-fiction reads such as Connect The Dots, Learn Bengali in a Month {that’s LBB, Kolkata talking}, and Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. There’s even a collection of Gujarati books.

Started by three friends, Vidhi, Payal, and Zenisha, the library was born out of their love for reading. One look at the Harry Potter decor {posters, witches hat, treasure chest, and the likes} that they haven’t taken down since a farewell party was enough to tell us how much of a Potterhead the trio are. We hope they don’t take it down because it does add a bit of Common Room vibes to the whole place. Brownie points for the adding chairs, cushions, and a rug for sitting.

The library is open just three days a week with Wednesday and Saturday timings being 6 pm to 8 pm and Sundays between 11 am and 2 pm. The library is open to using the space for meetings, holding classes {they used to conduct chess classes before}, and literary related events such as poetry slams. The annual membership is for just INR 200 with the rental charges between INR 5 and INR 40. The lending period is for a week.

Quills Library is on Google Maps, so it’s easy to locate them. But for folks in and familiar with Malleswaram, your marker is Nehru Park in Sheshadripuram.