India, May 13 -- Every spot and corner is awash with utmost silence. The library at the India International Centre is so quiet that the awareness of one's own breathing feels intrusive. Even so, the chief librarian's disapproving notice, stuck close to the Air Quality Index meter, observes that "we have been receiving number of complaints from users of the library that level of noise has increased considerably in the premises." This afternoon, the IIC's members-only library is half-full. Everyone is motionless, while the bookless world outside the library's glass wall is looking otherworldly. With her back to those exteriors, a white-haired woman is absorbed in a slim novel, a slight smile lighting up her face. All the other people in the l...