The Sunday Haul (0n 18-06-2017)

Another rain-free morning and another three book haul was how my Sunday morning book hunt at Abids turned out to be. It was just another normal Sunday for me, apart from the fact that one member of our three-man team re-joined the team after a long gap.

The first ever full size book that I read from beginning to end was ‘The Man-Eater of Malgudi’ by RK Narayan that I finished reading in half a day during summer holidays nearly forty years ago. It was the book that got me hooked to books. I was about thirteen or fourteen years old then and over the years I managed to read almost everything that RK Narayan wrote. The only title of his I couldn’t lay my hands was ‘The Emerald Route’ that I learnt was a sort of travelogue. I wasn’t able to find it all these years despite looking for it all over. So, last Sunday when I spotted it at Abids I was very thrilled. I couldn’t believe it until I held it in my hand and looked over the book published by Vision Books. The book cost me just forty rupees.

The next title I found at Abids last Sunday was a book that was so beautiful that I decided to buy it right away without even looking at the title properly. It was a hard cover copy of ‘Somebody’s Sister’ by Derek Marlowe. The name seemed familiar and I had a hunch that it could be a good read so I bought it. It was a beautiful copy published by Book Club Associates, London and it said ‘by arrangement with Jonathan Cape.’ I found the jacket intact and not a single blemish anywhere on the book except one thing. On two of the front pages and one at the back page there was a round stamp that said ‘Lata and Rao Home Library’ but gave no indication of the place. The date written in ink inside the circle was 27/1/87 which makes it a thirty year old copy. Yet it was in perfect condition.

The third book I found was one related to another hobby of mine- crosswords- that I haven’t been following as keenly as my younger brother who regularly makes it to the Top 20 list of the Indian Crossword League held every year. Anyway, I found a copy of ‘The Daily Telegraph- How to Solve Crosswords Faster’ by May Abbott. Somehow finding this title made me think about going back to the habit of solving crosswords. Once I finish reading this book I might resume this interesting pastime.