The Sunday Haul (on 6-12-2015)

Last Sunday I almost did not go to Abids. I had work at the office since there was a Govt of India team of officers visiting the state in view of the drought in the State. However, I decided to make a quick round before going to the office which turned out to be a good decision. If I had missed going to Abids last Sunday I would have missed meeting Jai who dropped in after a long time and also missed finding three wonderful books.
After tea and our usual chat about movies, books, politics we (me, Jai, Uma, and Shrikant) we hit the pavements.

The Sunday before I had seen a copy of ‘Roots and Shadows’ by Shashi Deshpande that I did not buy. When I saw it again last Sunday I decided to buy it. Disha books was the publisher and the book was in a good condition. At the same time I saw another Disha book that I picked up on a hunch. It was ‘Diary of a Decade of Agony’ by Avinash Dharmadhikari but its size made me think twice. It was an English translation from Marathi. I read a few lines at random and decided to buy it. It was a good decision because when I looked at it again I discovered that the author had been a journalist as well as an IAS officer. There was something about his visit to this state before it was bifurcated which looked interesting. I bought these two books for hundred and twenty rupees.

The next find was a treasure. Ever since I discovered Ross Macdonald and read a couple of his novels I decided to buy every title that I could find. Last Sunday I got a thrill when I spotted a book whose author was John Ross Macdonald. I wondered if it was Ross Macdonald and it was. The books spread out on the pavement seemed to be all crime fiction titles published sometime in the sixties and seventies judging from the covers. It was ‘The Way Some People Die’ and I got it for just twenty rupees.

After finding ‘The Way Some People Die’ I decided to leave. If I had continued looking for some more time I am certain I would have found some more good titles. But since it was getting late I left reluctantly though happy that I had found three good titles.