A Librarian with a Difference

Impressed by what he read about people who with their scant resources struggled against all odds and achieved greatness, he also aspired to do something big in life

“Librarians have always been among the most thoughtful and helpful people. They are teachers without a classroom.”

—Willard Scott

Mohammad Khalid Abidi

As the reading habit is dying down and people are losing interest in reading, libraries are also on the verge of becoming defunct. Amid such trying circumstances, here is a person who has, professionally, neither been a teacher nor a librarian, but is facilitating and encouraging the reading habit. Son of a tailor in Bhopal, Mohammad Khalid Abidi has taken on the onerous task of maintaining a library of over 7000 books.

Ironically, in school, Khalid was weak in studies. As a result, his father tried in vain to groom him in the art of tailoring, but finding him good for nothing, his father told him to go and die rather than be a burden to him or to anybody on the earth. Obeying his father’s command, he went to the railway tracks and waited for a train to mow him down. It so happened that a friend of his father friends saw him lying there and brought him home.

Now it so happened that Khalid had an acute interest in reading newspapers and film magazines apart from being passionate about watching movies. The turning point in his life came when he chanced upon copies of self help books by Orison Swett Marden. Impressed by what he read about people who with their scant resources struggled against all odds and achieved greatness, he also aspired to do something big in life but had no one to guide him. Khalid failed in the Higher Secondary examinations repeatedly for five years. In fact, Science related subjects proved to be his Waterloo. When someone gave him the sane advice to switch over to the arts stream, he passed, that too in the first attempt.

Urdu was his favourite subject. He tried his hand at writing Urdu plays. His first play “Lottery” was appreciated by the drama producer of All India Radio, Bhopal. In 1969 he wrote a humorous series by which he earned Rs.90.

In time, Khalid fell in love with a girl from the neighborhood, whose father helped him get a job as a clerk in the Electricity Board. Even after his marriage, he continued to dream about studying further. He graduated only six years later. Surprisingly, he not only passed M.A. (Urdu) in a single attempt in the first division but also featured in the merit list. His interest in radio plays led him to publish a series, which earned him Rs.1000.

In 1970, Khalid was selected as a Production Assistant in All India Radio. During the last four decades, he has been collecting English, Hindi and Urdu Books for his personal library, which he loves to call “Maktba Abidia”. It has a rich collection of books on drama, which are referred to by Professor [Dr] Mohammad Kazim of Delhi University and other theatre artists from Bhopal.

Khalid frequently goes the extra mile in providing unique services to readers. On receiving a phone call he personally goes to deliver books to the reader at reasonable distances and also collects them in time. His magnanimity can be gauged from the fact that even more than ten books can be issued to one reader at a time. In Incredible as it may sound, Khalid provides all these services free of cost!

Khalid, now 68 years old, and his library have become an institution in themselves! In fact, two scholars, Dr Haridas of Jammu University and Dr Mumtaj Khan of Barkatullah University, Bhopal, have been awarded PhDs on the life and works of Mohammad Khalid Abidi. A book on Abidi titled “Mohammad Khalid” has been authored by Dr Razia Hamid and Rehbar Jaunpuri. Khalid himself has written 13 books and is presently working on his memoirs “Arze- Hayat”.

Leading a simple life after retirement from All India Radio, Khalid is still much sought after by Akashwani for reviewing radio plays, which of course he enjoys doing. The message of his life is loud and clear: “Even if you are not a trained professional, your passion for any given profession can take you far ahead of professionals!”