Another Haul

Not a week passes in my life without buying at least one book and last week was no exception. There seemed to be no possibility of going to the second hand book bazaar Abids in view of the crowds expected for the political rally on Sunday. I decided to check out the Best Books sale at YMCA since it was the last day of the sale. I had picked up only a couple of books during the fortnight long sale and wasn’t exactly looking for more books to buy because there did not seem to be any in the sale. This sale appeared dull and insipid with an uninteresting collection of books laid out. I found that most of the books I had seen on my earlier visits were sold out. I did not buy any book but spend close to two hours looking closely at each and every title for something interesting. Sadly, I did not find anything worth buying. In contrast, though the seller whos has put up a few shelves at Sangeet had a surprise in store. There was a new copy of Amitav Ghosh’s ‘In An Antique Land’ that I wanted to buy. The price did not seem right for a copy that had a few defects though the overall condition was almost new-like. I hesitated for a long time and since I was reluctant to return home without a book I settled on another book. The book I bought was ‘Flying Visits’ by Clive James that was a collection of travel pieces that had appeared in ‘Observer’ in the seventies. It seemed an interesting book and so I got it for forty rupees wich was all that I was prepared to spend on books last Sunday because it was the last day of the month. Even as I was writing this post and preparing to put it up on the blog there was a message on my mobile phone from the Best Books people. It contained the good news that their sale at YMCA, Secunderabad had been extended up to 15th October and added that newer titles were now in sale. This news calls for a couple more visits to the sale which might result in more books being added to my already over laden bookshelves. I hope they have added some really interesting titles.