The Sunday Haul (on 25-10-2015)

Another Sunday. Another visit to Abids. Another haul of a few books. It all sounds predictable and monotonous but believe me I am never more excited than when I am starting for Abids on Sunday morning. Before stepping out I wonder what I will find at Abids and how many books I will buy there. Last Sunday once again I found three titles one of which was a title I already have four or five copies of. Another title was a travelogue and the other one was a poetry collection.

It was a lovely morning last Sunday with a post-festival feeling coupled with the hangover of a week-long holiday spell that we in the Government here enjoyed. The first book I saw was ‘The Healing Land’ by Rupert Isaacson that I picked up. On the cover was the picture of the lead character in the popular movie- The Gods Must Be Crazy. It looked like an interesting title and moreover it was a travel title that I do not miss reading. I got the book for forty rupees.

It is not unusual to find books for ten rupees at Abids. Until a couple of years one could get good titles for five rupees. But it is not usual to find a brand new title, that too one by a popular writer, for just ten rupees. When I heard the seller say ‘Ten rupees’ after I asked him how much the copy of ‘Neglected Poems’ by Gulzar I picked up was I was shocked. It was a brand new copy in pristine condition and in fact it looked like a copy that looked like it had come straight from the shelf in a book store. I saw that the original price was Rs 250 but I was getting it for only ten rupees. Needlessly to say, I bought it.

The next find was an interesting find. Sometime back I learnt about the little known writer Arun Joshi who has written some interesting novels. I am a big fan of Arun Joshi and I endeavor to tell as many people as possible about his books and if they appear interested I give them copies of books by Arun Joshi. So far I have bought about half a dozen or more copies of ‘The Apprentice’ and also ‘The Foreigner’ that I saw at Abids and other places. Last Sunday I spotted another copy of ‘The Apprentice’ that I snapped up the moment I saw it.