The Sunday Haul- Two Spenser Books

While hunting for books at Abids all alone has its own advantages, going with a friend with similar tastes for the book hunt brings its own surprises. Instead of two eyes there are four looking for familiar authors and hard to find titles. Last week it helped me land two books by an author I have been recently enamored of- Robert B Parker. Both books were spotted by the friend I had with me, faster than I could have done it.

Since a couple of months, Uma has been accompanying me to Abids on Sundays. Before we begin the hunt we sit at a café and drink chai while talking about books, writing and authors. It is a time of the week I look forward to because we talk for a long time about these matters. Last Sunday, we were sifting through the books heaped near the demolished movie complex when Uma fished out a brand new, hardcover copy of ‘Back Story’ by Robert B Parker. This from a heap of books selling for only thirty rupees! If I were to buy a new copy it would have set me back by at least a couple of hundred bucks. It was a very lucky find.

Hardly had I recovered from the excitement of getting the book, moments later Uma fished out another Spenser title by Robert B. Parker from the same heap. This was a paperback copy and appeared quite old. The title was ‘Ceremony’ and we got it for just twenty rupees. It was a bumper haul I felt since my collection of Spenser titles has jumped up to six till date. I am sure if I look carefully enough I will find more titles. Next Sunday onwards I plan to do just that.

Apart from these two titles I had also seen Timeri N. Murari’s ‘The Arrrangements of Love’ and Joe Eszterhas’ ‘American Rhapsody’ that I felt I should have picked since it was in the heap of books selling for only twenty rupees. I had also seen a good copy of Anish Trivedi’s ‘Call Me Dan’ but it was not within my range. Then there was the copy of William Dalrymple’s ‘In Xanadu’ that I did not buy for the same reason.

However, I also picked up the February 2011 issue of Vanity Fair that has an article on J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ that I like immensely enough to read it every six months or so. There are other articles in it like the one about Huffington Post, Christopher Hitchens, Justin Bieber and so on that I am yet to read.

The haul of the two new Spenser titles pleased me no end and we decided to have a celebratory chai at Hotel Grand behind the GPO. When we went in, we were for a big surprise. Almost half of the main hall was taken up by a newly built staircase that led up to the first floor. The cement staircase not only marred the old time look of the Grand it also literally cast a shadow. The staircase took up an entire side of the hall towards a lane, and blocked out more than a couple of windows. Somehow I did not feel like visiting the place again. However, being a sucker for the chai in such Irani joints, I might, after all, go because the chai there is something unique.