The Sunday Super Haul

Once in a while, I come up with a super haul of more than the usual one of a couple of books mostly by writers I love to read. Last Sunday it was one such occasion when I netted four good books by four equally good writers. One title was a book that I have several copies of but the other three were titles that I haven’t read about before so finding them was quite a thrilling experience. This kind of a super haul happens once in a blue moon so I was filled with joy though the haul did empty my wallet considerably. Even then, what I paid for the four books was far less than what I would have to pay for new copies of these titles assuming bookstores in Hyderabad actually stocked them. I would never have found all four titles anywhere else, leave alone a bookstore, except on the pavements of Abids.

The first find was by the author of one of the very first titles I read just when I was beginning to get seriously into books about places where people are equally crazy about the scene as well as the food (which is something you can’t say about Hyderabad). Peter Mayle is the author who opened my eyes to Provence when I read ‘A Year in Provence’ and ‘Toujours Provence’. ‘Encore Provence’ is what I found lying among other titles on the pavement at Abids. This is perhaps Mayle’s third book on Provence after the previous two titles on the same place. I did not know about ‘Encore Provence’ until I laid my eyes on it so finding the book was the first pleasant surprise of the day. The second surprise of the morning was getting it for only twenty rupees.

Ever since I’ve failed to get into medical college I’ve been more fascinated by surgeons and physicians than anyone or anything else. I’ve met a few of them and also count among doctors I know a cousin, two sisters-in-laws, an uncle and a nephew. The lives of physicians and surgeons fascinate me and I try to read whatever stuff I can find that is written by them. One of my favorite writers, Somerset Maugham is (or was) a student of medicine. So was AJ Cronin whose autobiography lies in my shelf waiting to be opened. Then there is another recent book that I want to read – Siddhartha Mukherjee’s ‘The Emperor of all Maladies’ apart from books by Abraham Varghese that I have not been able to locate anywhere. I’ve come across Atul Gawande’s name quite often though I haven’t really read anything written by him. So when I found his ‘Better- A Surgeon’s Note on Performance,’ I grabbed it. However, I had to bargain hard for it since the guy asked two hundred rupees for it but got only seventy rupees from me. His other book 'Complications:A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science' now gets added to my must read list.

I don’t know if I’m subconsciously waiting to find all books by Haruki Murakami before starting to read them. I have at least five Murakami books waiting to be read right from ‘Kafka on the Shore’ that I found sometime last year to the most recent find ‘The Elephant Vanishes’ that I found two weeks ago. Last week I almost began to read ‘What I Talk When I Talk About Running’ but put it aside after I got Le Carre’s ‘Our Kind of Traitor’ that I am currently reading. As if it wasn’t enough agony waiting to find some time alone to finish the almost half a dozen Murakami books I found another one on Sunday. The third find of the day was Haruki Murakami’s ‘After Dark,’ a short and slim book but which did not come cheap. I had to shell out seventy rupees for it though I felt it would be worth more than that.

Even if I come across a hundred copies of any book by Dave Barry I am going to buy all of them. There are a lot of people who do not know who he is and many more who haven’t even read a single book by him. I want to bring a bit of humor into the lives of such people I know and there’s no better way than to gift them a Dave Barry book. I had come across ‘Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys’ last week but did not buy it because the guy quoted a high price. Finding it still on the pavement on Sunday I asked the seller once again but he quoted the same price as last Sunday. I walked away appearing uninterested though inside I desperately wished he’d agree to my price. But my gambit paid off because the guy came running after me and handed over it to me at the price I asked for- sixty rupees. A book by Dave Barry is worth any price because one cannot find his books in bookstores in Hyderabad. I don’t understand why but no bookstore in Hyderabad seems to stock his books. It is the reason why I have no option to gift only second hand book copies of Dave Barry titles to friends.