I took my son to a library last month knowing it was our last visit. That library is as old as independent India.
The British Council Library has been in Chennai since 1948. That is before India even celebrated its second Independence Day.
My son and I used to visit regularly. Last month, I went there one final time to buy whatever books I could. For him and for me.
But this is not just about Chennai.
India once had 7 British Council Libraries. Here is how we lost them:
→ Lucknow and Patna shut down in the mid-1990s
→ Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh went fully digital in 2020
→ Chennai closed on Feb 15, 2026
Only Delhi and Kolkata are left now.
It did not happen suddenly. It happened city by city, quietly. Budget cuts from the British Council side. Logistics of running physical spaces in multiple cities.
The digital shift made it harder to justify keeping them open.
But here is what concerns me more.
An average Indian now spends 7+ hours on screens daily. Time spent reading books? Under 30 minutes and we are okay with that.
We are not just losing libraries. We are losing the habit of sitting with a book long enough to actually think. I am not anti-technology. I run a business that runs on tech every single day.
But screens give you information and books give you the patience to process it. That difference matters.
If you have a library near you, take your kid there this weekend.
While it is still open.
Did you ever visit a British Council Library growing up?
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