Sunday Haul- Two Finds

Perhaps it was the changing weather or all the outside food I had during the past week, my health seemed to have taken a beating during the past couple of days. As if that was not enough, my sinus allergy too kicked in. And when my sinus allergy kicks in I don’t step out, for reasons of public safety. I get massive sneezing spells that would rock the foundations of buildings so I stayed put at home. It was so bad I had to miss a book reading on Saturday. But on Sunday I couldn’t hold myself back from visiting Abids. It turned out to be a good decision because the foray yielded two good finds.

Bill Bryson is one of the funniest writers I’ve ever read, of course, after Dave Barry. So when I spotted one of his best books ‘The Lost Continent’ I picked it up. It was only ten rupees so I had no choice but to buy it even though I already have a copy at home. It begins with his classic line-‘ I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.’ The whole book is peppered with such great oneliners. Though the cover was a bit damaged, on the whole it was a good, readable copy. Someone just got lucky.

Later I went to the Grand Hotel near GPO for a cup of Irani tea. I spent the whole time watching the guy at the counter slice round buns into half. There were about fifty buns on the counter and a plate filled with a mountain of butter. The guy proceeded to butter the slices expertly with a long steel knife. I was tempted to try one but I was already half way through my cup of tea. There appeared to be a large demand of the stuff at Grand because there were more buns in the counters than I could count. After finishing my tea I went to the seller beside GPO and found my second book.

I had found Natalie Goldberg’s oft recommended book on writing- 'Writing Down the Bones,' sometime last year at a sale. Recently I had read about her other book- 'Wild Mind.' It was this book I found on Sunday. I had to shell out fifty rupees for the book which had a torn cover but since it was a book on writing I couldn’t let it go. Someday I hope to read both her books on writing and learn something.