In the short, hot hour that I was at Abids last Sunday I managed to find two books. A team from the Central Government was visiting the state so I had to go to the office and make arrangements. Another reason was that it was terribly hot because of the heat wave and I couldn’t be out in the sun for more than an hour. So I spent some time in the café sipping chai and talking about books and later began the hunt that did not last more than an hour.
The first title I spotted was ‘Candy is Dandy’ by Ogden Nash that I got for just fifty rupees. It was in a pretty good condition and had hundreds of Ogden Nash’s comic verse. Some of the funniest ones are here:
The Eel
I don’t mind eels
Except as meals
And the way they feels.
The Fly
God in His wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.
The Cow
The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other, milk.
The Ant
The ant has made himself illustrious
Through constant industry industrious
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?
Another find was a collection of short stories titled ‘A Dove of the East’ by Mark Helprin that I found in a heap of books selling for thirty rupees. This collection has the following twenty stories: A Jew of Persia; Because of the Waters of the Flood; Ruin; First Russian Summer; Katrina, Katrin; Shooting the Bar-1004; Lightning North of Paris; Mountain Dancing in Truchas; Leaving the Church; Katherine Comes to Yellow Sky; Elisha Hospital; End of the Line; The Legitimacy of Medium Beauty; The Home Front; Willis Avenue; Elizabeth Ridinoure; The Silver Bracelet; On the ‘White Girl’ by James Whistler; Back Bay Conservatory; and A Dove of the East.
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