Delhiwale: Paradise is in Sector 14, see!

At 84, Vijay Kumar Jain's bungalow in Gurugram is a treasure trove of rare books, reflecting his lifelong passion for antiquarian literature.

Washed laundry is drying in the porch. The bungalow truly looks ordinary, here in Gurugram’s Sector 14. A jaali door opens into a corridor illumined in the afternoon light. Spotting the staircase inside gives the first jolt. It is littered with neat stacks of books. Up the stairs, the veranda is wholly crammed with books. So is the drawing room. So are the two bedrooms. The kitchen, too. Books claim beds, sofas, tables and chairs.

This private library is the work of a lifetime. (HT Photo)

This private library is the work of a lifetime.

At 84, the antiquarian bookseller Vijay Kumar Jain is warming up to the theme of retirement. His long relationship with “old, rare books on South Asia in general and India in particular” had begun in the 1960s. Gradually, the collection became renowned. Bibliophiles from across the world would visit his ancestral mansion in the town’s Sadar Bazar to view the prized editions. After the family sold the old house a decade ago, Vijay Kumar moved the collection to his current address. Today, the books inhabit the bungalow’s first floor. He, with wife, Nisha, and their family, inhabit the more navigable ground-floor rooms.

Attentively waving an arm towards his precious piles of hardbounds, the mild-mannered host murmurs softly: “This section is all partition, Punjab is over there… that’s Bengal… here is Gandhiana…” The first editions include several, but not all, of the 100 volumes of ‘The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.’ A first edition Nehru is stacked tight in a shelf — its opening page bears the seal of ‘Kitabistan, Allahabad.’ ‘The Jews of India’ lies close to ‘The Aryans in Iran and India.’

Smiling under his bushy moustache, the book collector recalls the cross-country tours of his youth, visiting collectors and sellers in various cities, plus the weekly excursions to Delhi’s legendary Sunday Book Bazar.

During the early days of struggles and uncertainties, he would spent hours preparing the catalogues of his new acquisitions, the copies posted to college libraries and research scholars worldwide. Then came the day when young Vijay received his “first fat order.”

It had arrived from Germany’s Heidelberg University. The excitement propelled him to cycle to elder brother Satya Prakash’s residence in distant Delhi. He had felt an urgent urge to share the news with his beloved “bhai saheb,” who had initiated him into books.

Vijay Kumar had five brothers. All have passed—one was Ansari Road bookseller Ramesh Chandra, who operated independently.

Strolling slowly from one room to another, the elderly gent pauses to gush over handsome bindings. He picks up the yellowed front page of the 3 April, 1924 edition of ‘Young India,’ a journal that Gandhi edited.

Finally, settling down into a chair, he grows sentimental. “When I hold an old book, I feel ajeeb sa anand, a kind of mental sakoon.”