Most Sunday mornings I set out for Abids wondering what I’d return with. As always I hope to find a good book but at the back of my mind also lurks a faint hope that I’d not find anything worth adding to my already burgeoning collection. Last Sunday, unlike other Sundays, I set out knowing beforehand what I’d come back with.
The Sunday before while picking up Lee Child’s ‘Worth Dying For’ I had seen a title in the ‘Spenser’ series by Robert B Parker but I did not buy it. I had hoped no one would buy it and this Sunday I was surprised to find the book exactly at the same place on the shelf. No one bought the book so I gladly picked it up though I had to pay for sixty rupees for it. With ‘Chance’ by Robert B Parker in the haul my collection of crime fiction has gone up by three new titles after Stieg Larrson’s ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ that I found sometime last year but haven’t yet found the time read.
In last Friday’s ‘Life’ supplement in ‘Business Line’ daily I came across an interesting column by TCA Srinivasa Raghavan called ‘Running Out of Print’ which was on bookstores, reading and books. The writer mentioned that he had read two of Manohar Shyam Joshi’s Hindi novels – ‘Raag Darbari’ and ‘Mukhya Mantri.’ But ‘Raag Darbari’ was written by Srilal Shukla, I know because I have the English translation with me. I hope someone tells TCA Srinivasa Raghavan about that mistake. Incidentally, I found ‘Raag Darbari’ one of the most hilarious and funniest books I’ve ever read. I haven’t read the original in Hindi which I am sure is better than the English translation that I read, though the translated version too is quite funny. Someday I plan to read the original version in Hindi. It is one of my long terms plans to read a couple of classics of Telugu and Hindi literature in their original language.
Waiting for Literary ReviewThere’s only a couple of days’ more for next Sunday, which being the first Sunday of the month brings with it ‘The Literary Review’ inside the folds of ‘The Hindu.’ So I wait eagerly for next Sunday morning when I would be able to read the well written reviews of the latest books, articles on writing, on classics and on forgotten books. It is something I read from top to bottom, beginning to end quite a number of times during the month until it is time for the next issue of Literary Review.
MR Books to Reopen at Abids
A couple of years ago I was posted in Hyderabad at our Headquarters which wasn’t exactly a dream posting. Of the very few things I liked about the posting was that the office was just a short walk away from Bombay Bakery and Restaurant and a second hand bookstore. I had tea at the former and afterwards browsed at the latter on afternoons when there wasn’t much work. There wasn’t much work to begin with but that is another story. MR Books is another top second hand bookseller in Hyderabad with a couple of branches in the city. The branch at Begumpet is a swank one and one that I frequent often.
At Abids, their branch was on the first floor of a small building opposite Grammar School on the busy Abids main road. It was a place I loved to drop in and browse for about an hour, sometimes picking up a great find. One of the best finds there was the Salman Rushdie- Elizabeth West edited book ‘The Vintage Book of Indian Writing’ that I got for two hundred bucks and another find was ‘Best Writing on Writing’ that also I got quite cheap. Quite suddenly the store shut down and one fine day I saw the board of ‘Bowl of China’ displayed. For those who do not know ‘Bowl of China’ is the unsuccessful twin of Hyderabad House that dot the city. Wherever there is an outlet of ‘Hyderabad House’ one can find ‘Bowl of China’ just beside it. When I saw MR had shut down I was disappointed but hoped they would reopen the store at some other place which is what the MR guys are good at. But that did not happen until last week.
Last week while passing through Abids, I saw that the place where MR once stood was again being repainted in the familiar yellow and green colors. The board of ‘Bowl of China’ was gone perhaps for good because the place never really opened. In another week I guess MR Books will reopen at Abids. Watch this space for more news.
No comments:
Post a Comment