The Sunday Haul

The Sunday before the last was a complete washout as far as our trip to Abids was concerned. Thought the Sunday started off sunny and very bright, there was a sudden and heavy downpour shortly after we began our search for books at Abids sometime around half past eleven. We waited a long time hoping the rain would stop but it continued to rain. The gushing water soaked all the books on the pavements though the sellers tried pathetically to cover them up with sheets of tarpaulin. I couldn’t bear to watch the books getting completely drenched in that manner that would make them useless. We left, disheartened that we hadn’t found anything worth buying.

But last Sunday there was no rain and we could go on with our search without fear of rain. Earlier, on my way to Abids, I had stopped at a seller in Chikkadpally. The copy of John Banville’s ‘The Sea’ that I had been seeing with him since a couple of weeks was still there so I picked it up. It said that the book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Price in 2005 and so thought it would be worth reading. Even the blurbs on the back cover were fulsome in their praise of the book. When I looked inside the book I discovered that the copy was a prize to someone who had correctly guessed that John Banville would win the Booker Prize that year. The prize was from the British Library.

At Abids, though, I did not buy anything. I had seen Vilas Sarang’s collection of short stories at a seller near the GPO but foolishly enough I had not thought of buying it. Now I realize that it was a dumb thing to do. So next Sunday I will pick it up if the book is still around at the same place where I saw it. Later I dropped in at the Best Books store at Abids on the way home and found another copy of Arun Joshi’s ‘The Foreigner’ that was in a fairly good condition. I took it hoping to give it to someone who might like to read this extraordinary writer.