India, May 21 -- The radiologist seems to unite some of the best blessings of existence. He lives in a Sector 50 high-rise in Noida, sharing a spacious apartment with his parents, his wife-a dermatologist-and their two children. The bed in his bedroom is of Burma teak wood, inherited from his late grandmother, who had acquired it when she lived in Burma. And then Sushant Mittal has something more. His bedroom has a wooden case filled with books.

This is his library.

Last week, a college library in the capital caught fire; thousands of books at Pitampura's Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce were burned to ashes. It was a short circuit accident, and fortunately, no injury was reported. But the spectre of burned books is historicall...