Come May and Hyderabad turns into a cauldron. Only those with important and urgent business venture in the hot sun on Sundays. Many prefer to stay at home and relax on the holiday. But since I find my relaxation in the hunt for books at Abids I prefer to be there hot sun or not, hoping to get lucky. Last Sunday ( 6th May) too I was at Abids for the hunt. The previous Sunday I had missed picking up two books due to budget problems. This Sunday with the wallet full I could afford to buy the books. Luckily one of the books was still around and the second book wasn't the one I had seen the other day but in its place I found a different title but by the same author. I found Richard Dawkins' ' A Devil's Chaplain' instead of his 'The God Delusion' that I had seen the previous Sunday. I also picked up Octavio Paz's 'In Light of India'. Later at home I read the introduction to the three books I picked up and it was a struggle to prevent myself from reading the rest of the book. However, I am already into 'In Light of India'.
Ever since I read Atul Gawande's 'Better' and 'Complications' I have been on the look for the book that made him famous- 'The Checklist Manifesto.' A friend also wanted to read it and I was a bit desperate to find it and last Sunday at last I came across not one but two copies of it. The edition was a hardcover one and had a drug company's name on it which meant that it was for giving away to doctors who bothered to read such stuff. Anyway, it was a beautiful copy that I got for only eighty rupees. It is one of the books I want to start reading right away.
Uma found Evelyn Waugh's 'Scoop' which I missed spotting. It was a beautiful Penguin copy and was really a good find. However I couldn't find 'No Country for Old Men' by Cormac McCArthy that I had missed the previous Sunday. Since I had seen the movie I thought it wouldn't make any sense buying the book. Later I realized I should have bought it but when I looked it was gone.
The other highlight of that Sunday was the "Literary Review' in 'The Hindu' which I had been waiting for since last month. If last month Aleph had an ad announcing its May releases this month it was the turn of Rupa's new imprint 'raintree' to list out its new releases. There was a lot of stuff in LR but what was interesting was the interview with Anjum Hasan whose new collection of short stories is out. Sometime soon I will buy it since I do enjoy her writing.
The 'Literary Review' in 'The Hindu'
It was a bit of news that was exciting but I actually felt disappointed. I read that Ashokamitran would be in Hyderabad to receive an award from the NTR Trut on the 28th of this month. The disappointing side of this news is that I will be in Delhi attending a meeting on that very day. If I weren't making that trip I would have surely met the great writer and taken his autograph on a copy of 'Mole' that I read recently. Incidentally there is a copy of this book at the new Odyssey branch in Secunderabad.
Ashokamitran in Hyderabad
Unlike the previous years when Best Books Center would have a sale of second hand books in May, this year they plan to have it in September. I was really looking forward to their sale in May but I have to wait another four months.
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