A 'No Haul' Sunday

After quite some time I had a Sunday when I did not find anything worth buying at Abids. To tell the truth, I was more relieved to come home empty handed than disappointed that I had not found even a single book worth picking up. True, I felt a bit odd returning home with not a single book in the bag but I was also worried if it would be the same again next Sunday. It wasn’t that I did not come across anything at all worth picking up. I saw two latest issues of ‘The New Yorker’ magazine but I was in no mood to buy them. Then there was Bill Bryson’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’ still on the pavement for the eighth or ninth week running. There was something I could have bought- Sagarika Ghose’s ‘The Girl’ and Ananda Mukerji’s ‘And where, My Friend, Lay You Hiding?’ that I saw at Chikkadpally but did not buy because the seller wanted too much for the old books. I was also disappointed that the book sellers were not getting anything new other than what they have been peddling all these weeks.

The Month’s ‘The Literary Review’ in The Hindu

Last Sunday wasn’t the first Sunday of the month but since I had forgotten I am now mentioning about ‘The Literary Review’ that appeared in The Hindu. On the front page was the announcement of the ‘The Hindu Literary Prize’ with June 25th as the deadline and a prize of Rs Five Lakhs. The interview with Gulzar, also on the front page, was a delight to read. To imagine he has been around for almost fifty years working on his poetry and lyrics. It made me feel I should not have stopped learning Urdu. Inside, there was Pradeep Sebastian on Sidharth Choudhury’s ‘Day Scholar’ and praised the book so highly that I am contemplating buying the book and checking it out myself. I haven’t kept up on my promise of reading more books by Indian writers. It makes me feel guilty, very guilty indeed.

Just Books

Ever since the telecast schedule of ‘Just Books’ was changed it has become difficult for me to watch the program on NDTV Profit. Last Sunday I managed to catch it at half past ten in the night. There was Pritish Nandy showing off his books and the only one I liked in his collection was ‘Complete Prose’ by Woody Allen which I do not have with me. Then there was the mandatory author interview, and this week it was with a US based author of another book on India. I wish somebody would tell Sunil Sethi that he speaks more than what his interviewees do. His interruptions are irritating and also so long that appears like Sethi is showing off his own knowledge. One can see the disappointment on the faces of the writers he has interrupted in mid-sentence to say something profound of his own. The poor authors can only nod in agreement as Sunil Sethi goes on and on. I wish he would ask the question and sit back to listen to the author’s answer rather than jump in and make a lengthy point. The program would be much better if he kept his questions short and to the point.