The Sunday Haul

Usually I make one trip to Abids on Sunday in the morning to look for books on the pavements. After a couple of hours browsing I return home with the haul if there’s any. Occasionally I am compelled to make a second foray sometime late in the afternoon or evening. I make this second trip on those days when I have second thoughts about not buying a book that I had come across or when I forget to pick up a book that I had seen and decided to buy in the end just before leaving for home. Such occasions are not frequent but not uncommon. Last Sunday happened to be one such Sunday when I went to Abids twice.

In the morning I had seen Manohar Malgonkar’s ‘A Bend in the Ganges’ that I decided to buy if I did not find anything else. Of course, as luck would have it I did not find anything worth buying except a November-December 2011 issue of National Geographic Traveler. I completely forgot about ABITG and went home empty handed. It was after lunch when I was flipping through National Geographic Traveler in which I saw a picture of the river Itaquai winding through the Amazon forest that I remembered about ‘A Bend in the Ganges.’ A long time back I had resolved I’d read more works of Indian writers, especially the books by the early writers like Mulk Raj Anand, Kushwant Singh, RK Narayan and such writers. So when I saw that ‘A Bend in the Ganges’ was published in 1964 which is, coincidentally, the year I was born, I wanted to read it. In addition there was also the fact that I had no haul of books which makes my Sundays incomplete so I decided to go back.

I went to Abids again late in the afternoon slightly anxious if I’d still find the book and praying no one would have bought it. Luckily, the book was still in the same spot where I had seen earlier in the day. I got the book for thirty rupees only. Though I haven’t read many books published in India in the sixties I have a vague idea that they were mostly about the freedom struggle, the partition and such things. Not surprisingly, the freedom struggle and the communal violence that followed form the background of ‘A Bend in the Ganges.’ Manohar Malgonkar’s book is another addition to the handful of books in English by early Indian writers that I have on my bookshelf such as Manto, Ashokamitran, RK Narayan, and Anita Desai. ’ I plan to read the book someday soon and certainly before the end of the year.