A Happy Sunday's Haul- Two Books and a Magazine

Last Sunday I had more than one reason to be happy about my weekly visit to Abids. The first reason was, of course, the haul of two good books and a magazine. The second reason, was the company I had on Sunday at Abids.

First, the haul. Only the other day I had copied into my notebook a list of ‘Travel Literature Classics’ given at the back pages of ‘Lonely Planet Travel Writing’ that I read time to time though I don’t travel much. The first title in that list of eighteen books was Jonathan Raban’s ‘Arabia Through the Looking Glass.’ This book was my first find at Abids and I was thrilled to spot it on the pavement. I got it for only thirty rupees. All of Raban’s books seem to have almost the same cover design since his other book that I had picked up sometime ago had a similar design.

The next find was once again a lucky one. I picked up the absolutely latest (Dec 08) issue of ‘The Sunday Times Travel Magazine.’ It is one magazine I had been trying to locate and finally I got it on Sunday. After reading several issues of Conde Nast Traveller this comes as a welcome change. I got the brand new magazine for only twenty rupees.

Two celebrities who are fans of Elmore Leonard are Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino. (I’m also a fan though not a celebrity. Not yet.) I have read books by Stephen King but haven’t seen any movie of Quentin Tarantino, not even ‘Reservoir Dogs.’ I know it sounds a little odd but I’m not such a movie buff. But now that I’ve found the entire screenplay of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ by Quentin Tarantino at Abids on Sunday I might watch the movie. For someone thinking of writing a script I guess it is a smart thing to do it this way. I got Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’ for just ten rupees.

Now, for the second reason why I was happy on Sunday. It isn’t everyday that Abids has a visitor who is not only drop dead gorgeous but also well read. This Sunday there was one such visitor to Abids who looked like she stepped right off the cover page of Vogue. I was the one who had the pleasure of showing her around the place. We went around for more than two hours picking up some really good books and magazines. After netting a good haul herself she said she’ll be back again. I hope she does.