The Delhi Haul

My Second Copy of 'The Groaning Shelf'
Only someone who loves books can perhaps understand why I did what I did at Delhi last week. It isn’t unusual for me to buy second or even third copies of books I like. So far I had picked up six copies of Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ and more than two copies of books by Dave Barry and Elmore Leonard especially his ‘Get Shorty.’ But these were all second hand books on which I did not have to spend more than fifty rupees a copy. I had never bought two brand new copies of any book until last week.

Sometime back while looking in Walden Bookstore in Hyderabad for Pradeep Sebastian’s ‘The Groaning Shelf’ the thought had occurred to me about buying a second copy. Sine the store had only one copy I had to be content with it though I had not entirely forgotten about buying a second copy sometime in the distant future. I wanted one copy to read and one to keep on my shelf unopened, unread and pristinely preserved.

Last week while going around Khan Market in Delhi I spotted Bahrisons Booksellers and stepped inside wondering if they had TGS. Not finding it on the shelves I asked the attendant if they happened to have a copy of it. He looked around for sometime, fished it out from a stack on the floor and put it in my hands. I hadn’t actually planned to buy the second copy of TGS right away. I had not even finished reading from the copy I had at home. Since, on my travels I am a bit extravagant, I quickly took out my wallet and paid for the book before I could change my mind. The second copy of TGS in my hand, I walked out of the store, in a happy state of mind, brushing away thoughts of what the missus would say when she saw two copies of the expensive book on my shelves.

On Friday I went to Nehru Place and wanted to check out the bookstore I had been to on my previous visit in April. At the bookstore I saw Edward Albee’s 'Stretching My Mind' for only hundred rupees. It appeared to be a book of essays, something that I love to read. But I did not feel like buying it because the top half of the book’s cover was torn. I hesitated for a while and took the painful decision not to buy it. Now I feel a bit of regret not buying the book. I also checked out two other sellers who had stacked their books in the open. There was nothing interested in the stack of books most of which had faded covers and not in particularly good shape. I had bought Elmore Leonard’s ‘Get Shorty’ from one of these sellers and the same guy had his ‘Switch’ too but I let it be.


Conde Nast Traveller Comes to India
At the IGI airport on Saturday on my way back to Hyderabad I had a lot of time to kill. The departures terminal was swarming with soldiers in their combat uniforms who occupied half the seats. There were some passengers who kept their bags in the seats beside them as if afraid someone would run off with them. If they thought the floor was too dirty to keep their precious bags it wasn’t so. The floor was terribly neat and good enough to eat off it. Unable to find a place to sit I wandered around and discovered that there were two bookstores in the terminal. One was ‘Odyssey’ and the other with a name that I forgot. It was in this store that I picked up the inaugural issue of ‘Conde Nast Traveller India’. I bought it, temporarily putting aside my rule of not buying anything, especially books and magazines, wrapped in plastic.

I am glad I bought it though the magazine weighed a ton with 320 glossy pages making up the inaugural issue. The magazine would be a bimonthly issue I read. On the cover was Aishwarya Rai. Inside, there was more interesting stuff. First thing I read on opening the magazine was Suketu Mehta’s piece on Indian eateries in New York.

John Le Carre's 'Our Kind of Traitor'- Future Buy
One book that I definitely plan to buy soon is the latest book by John Le Carre "Our Kind of Traitor.' On Sunday I had read Michiko Kakutani’s review of the book in the Deccan Chronicle. She had written that 'Our Kind of Traitor' was far better than some of Le Carre's previous titles that I too had not read. I had not bought them somehow sensing that they may not be as good as his older books. I was right since MK too said the same thing. MK’s glowing review of 'Our Kind of Traitor' means I have to, have to buy and read it. John Le Carre is one of my favorite spy thriller writer on par with another master of the same genre- Len Deighton.