FINDING HARUKI MURAKAMI IN ABIDS

It was the day after the twin blasts in Hyderabad and the shock appeared not to have lifted entirely. Abids was deserted on Sunday morning and only a handful of the booksellers set up shop in the morning. One’s passion is revealed during such times and I couldn’t stay away from the weekly Abids fix despite protests from the family that it is not safe to go.

Since the regular guys were absent or were yet to open the stacks of books still lying bound, I looked leisurely at the books of those who had set shop. This leisurely browsing was rewarded in a short while when I found a book by an author I had been reading about only recently- Haruki Murakami.

MURAKAMI WHO?

To be frank I had no idea of Haruki Murakami until recently when his name began popping up regularly in articles I was reading. I wondered who he was and if I would be able to read his books. I was checking out old issues of ‘Outside’ magazines at one of the sellers near MPM mall when I noticed a stack of hardcover books he had. I looked at the titles and one was ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman’ by Haruki Murakami.

A strange feeling of elation came over me as I asked for the book to be taken out. It was a brand new harodcover copy but like so many hardcovers I am finding at Abids, it had no jacket. The grey front cover had no title except the maroon cover at the back which had a logo- “Borzoi Books” imprinted inside a square which also had a dog’s (or what appeared like a dog) image inside. I checked the inside pages and couldn’t find the date of publication and other details anywhere. The pages were also unevenly bound but it was a good copy and I got it for only thirty rupees. It is a 323 page book and I was happy to get it for so less. But this is Abids and it is only normal to find such treasures.