Oxford Gets Ready to Hit Hyderabad After Landmark Opens
Only last month Crossword opened in the new mall GVK One and I thought it would be a decade before another new bookstore opens in Hyderabad. I was pleasantly surprised when I read in the papers on Wednesday that Landmark was opening its store that day at Banjara Hills. I guess not many in Hyderabad knew about it, at least I had no inkling of it. I decided to check out the store on Friday last and on the way I got another bigger surprise. At Banjara Hills I saw a small notice pasted on the glass of a building under construction saying ‘Opening Shortly: Oxford Bookstore.’ It is quite surprising why so many new bookstores are popping up in Hyderabad all of a sudden in these times of recession.
Landmark in Hyderabad is on Road No. 12 of Banjara Hills, quite a long way off for me. It is quite impressive, the floor housing the book and stationery sections. The collection of books is not any different from the other stores though I saw a lot of books on Screenwriting and movies. Maybe I noticed them because nowadays I am in screenwriter mode. The stationery section in Landmark is something to check out because of the wide range of stuff on offer. I saw notebooks, books, shelves and shelves of folders but what I really wanted to buy was the cases for carrying digital cameras and CDs.
Milestones and Changes Ahead
Two significant milestones are coming up ahead in my life. One relates to this blog and the other relates to my book. One of the next posts will be about these two important milestones. Not only milestones, some significant changes too are in the offing for me at work and in my life. I’ll be getting promoted and moved out of Hyderabad. When and where, I will write in the next post. Of course, there won’t be any change on the blog though I plan to do only two posts a week for some time until my book is finished, though one can never finish writing a book. One goes on and on.
The Sunday Haul
I do not remember now how I chanced upon Bruce Chatwin’s writing but I guess I found one of his books at the British Library. ‘What Am I Doing Here’ is Bruce Chatwin’s first book I read a long time back but I was floored by his writing sufficiently enough to look around for other books by him. The next one I found was ‘In Patagonia’ a classic travel book that I found hard to put down. During my book hunts I found ‘Utz’ and also ‘The Viceroy of Ouidah’ a couple of years back though I have kept them aside, as I do with good books, for reading them at leisure. I also found ‘Songlines’ which I had been searching for quite keenly, at a book fair. This book too I haven’t yet read.
When I found Nicholas Shakespeare’s biography of Bruce Chatwin at Abids sometime back I bought it though it was quite a tome. I got it for a hundred and fifty bucks. Sadly, I haven’t read this too though I have skimmed it and remember reading that Chatwin wrote with a fountain pen, a Mont Blanc. The day before yesterday at Abids I found another biography of him, this one by Susannah Clapp who was his editor on ‘In Patagonia.’ One could guess what a writer Bruce Chatwin was if two different people wrote two biographies.
Next Post on Friday: The 400th Post!
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