The Sunday Haul: Two More Books

Another Sunday, another visit to Abids. But this Sunday morning I was again on chauffeur duty on the Honda City. I was to receive a VIP- my mom. She was returning to Hyderabad after a longish stay in Delhi with another of my brother, who, incidentally, drives a Toyota Corolla. I had to go all the way to Shamshabad in the morning and by the time we were home it was nearly two in the afternoon. I was in Abids in the afternoon when the crowds are a bit thin. But with Diwali only days away, the shoppers were in full swing at the regular shops.

The first find was a book I had missed buying in the past. It was Groucho Marx’s ‘Groucho and Me’, supposed to be his autobiography. I have only read about how funny the Marx brothers are but haven’t read any of their writings. This appeared very funny though from what little I read from the yellowing pages. I got the ancient looking smallish book for twenty rupees.

The other find was Isabel Allende’s ‘Portrait in Sepia.’ Allende is another writer I had heard a lot about and I had in fact seen some of her books at Abids but did not buy them. This Sunday I somehow picked up her book hoping it would be a good read because somewhere inside it was stated that she was one of the world’s bestselling writers. Also, there was a poem from Pablo Neruda’s ‘End of the World’, in the beginning:

And that’s why I have to go back
to so many places in the future,
there to find myself
and constantly examine myself
with no witness but the moon
and then whistle with joy,
ambling over rocks and clods of earth,
with no task but to live,
with no family but the road.

I got the book which was in a fairly good condition for only twenty rupees. With these two books in hand I sat in the Grand and had bun-maska with tea. That was how this Sunday’s foray into Abids ended.