Preface to Bombay-London-New York
by Amitava Kumar
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In this reflective, autobiographical essay, the writer and professor Amitava Kumar shares his memories of the historic Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna to explore the relationship between reading, personal memory and the journey of becoming a writer. He recalls visiting the cool, quiet library during the sweltering Patna summers (over 110°F), where the librarian would lay out rare, priceless manuscripts, a gold-filigreed book of poems by the Persian poet Hafiz presented to the Mughal Emperor Humayun, its margins bearing Emperor Jahangir's handwritten notes used for shakun (reading omens) during his banishment in Allahabad, and lines by the last Mughal Governor of Bihar mourning the legendary lover Majnun. Contrasting the civilised conversations inside with the chaotic 'wilderness' of the Patna streets and talking with the local historian Gopal about the decline of cultural institutions, Kumar reflects that books are not an escape: 'books not only offer refuge from the world, they return you to it.' He sees his reading journey as a struggle with the 'worldliness of the word', and his book Bombay-London-New York as a record of that literary journey, a marginal diary celebrating the enduring power of the printed word to shape human destiny.
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In this reflective, autobiographical essay, Amitava Kumar, a well-known Indian writer, journalist and professor of English, shares his memories of the historic Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna, using it to explore the relationship between reading, personal memory and the journey of becoming a writer.
The treasures of Khuda Bakhsh Library
Kumar describes his visits to the Khuda Bakhsh Library during the sweltering Patna summers, when the temperature regularly exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Inside the cool, quiet halls of this treasury, the librarian lays out rare, priceless manuscripts: a gold-filigreed book of poems by the Persian poet Hafiz, presented to the Mughal Emperor Humayun.
The margins of this book contain handwritten notes by Emperor Jahangir, who used the book for shakun (reading omens) to divine his future during his banishment in Allahabad. Another manuscript contains lines inscribed by the last Mughal Governor of Bihar, mourning the death of Majnun, the legendary lover.
Reading as a return to the world
Kumar reflects on the contrast between the peaceful, civilised conversations inside the library and the chaotic wilderness of the Patna streets outside. He talks with Gopal, a local historian, who laments the loss of cultural institutions and the lack of funds in modern Bihar.
For Kumar, the library is not a place of escape; rather, books not only offer refuge from the world, they return you to it. He views his reading journey as a constant struggle with the 'worldliness of the word'. His book, Bombay-London-New York, is a record of this literary journey, a marginal diary written on the places where writers have signed their names, celebrating the enduring power of the printed word to shape human destiny.