The Sunday Haul

On the first Sunday of this month, which also happened to be the first day of the month, I found the latest (Oct 09) issue of National Geographic Travel at Abids. This Sunday it was the turn of Conde Nast Traveler of the same month. I am beginning to wonder how such latest issues of these magazines are ending up on the pavements of Abids. It is a mystery that I hope will be resolved someday because I am getting them for only ten rupees.

The main article in the magazine was ‘Secrets of Smart Travel Now’ which is just as well because I am setting out on a two-month long training schedule that involves traveling to remote villages. The article gives tips to international travelers rather than to those traveling to villages in countries like ours. There are no secrets to traveling in rural areas of the country except stepping into the villages with an open heart. Another thing to know, and it is not a secret, is trying to remember the way back home.

I almost forgot but the magazine had one of the best articles on a city that I had not been to since twenty five years- Mumbai. I get to know about the city by reading about it here and there and also, watching it on the television. But Shoba Narayan’s article in Conde Nast Traveler was in a style that I rather liked. I was not really surprised to read about the 27-floor two billion dollar home that Mukesh Ambani was building for his family of six. But my mind really boggled when I read that there would be six hundred servants for his six member family. That was just one of the interesting things the article on Bombay is cluttered with. It also made me wonder about my own city- Hyderabad of the Half-Brained Drivers.

At last, I picked up the hardcover copy of Mario Puzo’s ‘The Godfather Papers’ that I had been eyeing since the time I saw it two weeks back. I got the book for eighty rupees. It was fortunate that nobody picked it up. I don’t think anybody will be interested in such books though no one who has read ‘The Godfather’ wouldn't be interested in knowing the story behind the creation of the bestselling book and movie. Apart from the piece about ‘The Godfather,’ there are many other essays in it that reveal Puzo's knowledgew of a lot of other things than the Mafia.

It is perhaps futile on my part to expect to find Vladimir Nobokov’s ‘Lectures on Literature’ that I had missed buying sometime last month. I did not find it this Sunday too and do not hope to. It is another regret I have added to my growing list. However, I keep seeing two books that I am tempted to buy. Nobody seems to be interested in picking up Elmore Leonard’s ‘Pagan Babies’ and ‘Glitz.’ If I find them next week maybe I will pick them up.