Mumbai: Sydenham management college alumni to rebuild gutted library

No one was present in the library when the fire began in the wee hours of Sunday All that could be salvaged from there was the rare collection of Harvard Business Review journals PicsShadab KhanChristmas began in tragedy at the Sydenham management college as the pride of the institute mdash its library mdash was gutted in a blaze By the end of the day however the college also witnessed the generosity of Christmas spirit as Sydenham alumni instantly came to the rescue with a donation of Rs 5 lakh to arrange for new books so students can continue their academicsThe fire is suspected to have been caused by a short circuit Fire control received the call at around 530 am after which four fire engines and seven water tankers were sent to the library at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies Research and Entrepreneurship Education SIMSREEA senior official said ldquoBy 730 am the fire was brought under control However the books and furniture inside library was flammable material so there was more damagerdquoCollege officials estimate that about 80 of the books have been irreparably damaged Not all is lost howeverThe fire brigade got the call around 530 am and the blaze was brought under control in about two hoursChristmas miracleFor one no one was hurt in the incident the students are all away on Christmas break and because it was in the wee hours of Sunday no one else was there when the fire broke out Equally miraculous is the fact that the institute has managed to salvage its most precious collection of Harvard Business Review HBR journals which were housed in special vaults called compactors that kept them safe from the flamesDr Manoj Bhide director in charge of the institute said ldquoIt was a hightech library with 16500 books on management education While most of the books are destroyed we are glad that our rare books which were kept in compactors are safe These HBR journals are assets for any management institute Although these books got wet we are glad that after drying they are still in readable conditionrdquoldquoThe library is certainly a very important section of any institute and this fire is a huge loss for us But we are confident of getting support from the alumni the university as well as the government in restoring the libraryrdquo he addedTrial by fireThe college still has tough times ahead Students will return from holiday on January 3 when they will be expected to get back to their grinding academic schedule Without books however the students will be handicapped Moreover since it is a government institution restoring the library could take a long time because of all the paperwork and official procedures to followIn this trial by fire it is the Sydenham students who saved the day While current students rushed to the campus to help out as soon as they heard about the blaze the Sydenham Institute of Management Alumni Association SIMAA too have pitched in with a muchneeded donation of Rs 5 lakh so the college can at least arrange for the crucial books that students will needMeanwhile Mumbai University has also extended its support by opening its library to SIMSREE students Aashish Pawaskar assistant professor at SIMSREE and one of the directors of SIMAA said ldquoMumbai University will now allow our students to use the Churchgate campus library whenever required until our library is restoredrdquo