The Sunday Haul (on 19-03-2017)

The uncomfortably warm sun on Sunday morning while I was at Abids was a clear indication that summer was down upon us in Hyderabad. I’ve taken to wearing a cap and also carrying a bottle of water with me to Abids on the Sunday book hunts at Abids. I can well imagine how it would be in the weeks to come. On the first day of March the Met Dept had predicted that it would be another hot summer this year too. I do not understand what to do if it becomes unbearably hot even to step outside. But I am worrying needlessly I guess.

I found two titles at Abids last Sunday. Curiously enough, in one of the Sunday papers, Sunday Express I guess I had read a review of the latest novel by Omar Shahid Hamid. I had been reading quite a bit about this Pakistani policeman and his novels and had wondered if I would get the time to read any book by him if I ever managed to find a copy. I was a bit thrilled when the first book I spotted at Abids turned out to be ‘The Prisoner’ by Omar Shahid Hamid which was in a line of books laid out on the ground very close to the place where I park my bike. The seller asked for a ridiculously high price but I managed to bring it down a little, to a level I could afford to buy the book. He asked for a hundred and fifty rupees and I got it for a hundred. Not bad.

The second title I found was a title I already have a copy of. Sometime back I had found a copy of the complete screenplay of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ by Quentin Tarantino and had got it for quite cheap. Last Sunday I found another copy of the same title and this copy too I got very cheap for just thirty rupees. It was in a beautiful condition and after finding it I realized that I had not read it so far though I had found it almost two years back. It is my plan to read it one of these days.

A futile hunt for a title I missed buying the Sunday before showed how dumb I could be sometime. I had seen a copy of a James Salter novel whose title I cannot recollect now however hard I try. I had tried a tactic to bring down the price but obviously it failed. When a seller quotes a price and I quote a price in return I try to walk off as if to pretend I was not interested. Usually the seller calls me back and gives it to me at the price I asked but last week though I walked off the seller did not call me. So I walked away thinking I would get the book the next Sunday. Next Sunday was last Sunday and the book was nowhere to be seen that made me quite mad at myself. If I cannot find it the next Sunday then I would assume that someone smarter than me had bought it.