Double Post Sunday: Post- 2 : Ngugi in Hyderabad

Though I possess four titles by him I haven’t read anything by Ngugi wa Thiong’O until last Sunday. I have a good idea how African writers can touch you with their vivid imagery and beautiful language after reading Chinua Achebe. Achebe’s writing had given me ideas about visiting Nigeria and other African countries to see for myself those lands and those people that these writers have brought alive in the pages of their wonderful books.

Sometime last week Kurmanath of Businessline had tweeted about Ngugi wa Thiong’ O’s visit to Hyderabad. I had read in the papers about Ngugi’s events in Delhi and also Kolkata but I never knew that he was coming to Hyderabad on Sunday. He would be in Hyderabad to launch a Telugu translation of his ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ that I had a copy of! I decided I would go to the event and get the book signed by Thiong’O. It is not every day that a writer who is on the Nobel shortlist comes to Hyderabad. In fact I realized I had another title by him- Petals of Blood- that I had found somewhere. I looked for it in my various bookshelves and found the book.

It was a wonderful evening last Sunday at the NTR Auditorium in Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University in Nampally where Ngugi launched the Telugu translation of ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ and also read out a few passages from it. It was an unforgettable evening for a couple of hundred people who filled up the hall and also spilled outside. However, it became chaotic after the reading since there was a clamour to take selfies with him and also get his signature on books. Everyone crowded around him and people had to be shooed off so he could get some breathing space. Someone decided it would be better if Ngugi signed the books outside. So the queue I was in broke off and began anew at a spot outside the auditorium.

I waited patiently while the others stood in line. One person made Ngugi sign on a thesis. A youngster standing in line before me noticed that I had two books in hand. He offered to get Ngugi’s signature on one of the books and took ‘Petals of Blood’ from me. Somehow I got his signature on the book in my hand. Afters sometime the youngster returned ‘Petals of Blood’ to me and said he got Ngugi to sign twice! I looked inside and found two pages on which Ngugi had signed!

Now after the event I checked my blog once more and found that I had found copies of ‘Devil on the Cross,’ Ngugi’s most famous novel perhaps, and also ‘Secret Lives’ a collection of short stories. I have never felt so dumb before failing to take these books along to get them signed by Ngugi. No wonder I work for the government.

Double Post Sunday: Post-1: The Sunday Haul (on 18-02-2018)

Quite often I find myself all alone at Abids when my usual friends do not turn up for our Sunday morning ritual. On such occasions I’m a bit disappointed but it helps me to look at the titles on display on the pavements without much distraction. The first title I found was a nice copy of ‘Meals with Vegetables’ published by the Radhasaomi Satsang Beas organisation. Though it had recipes of all sorts of dishes from all over the world there were some recipes of Indian dishes too. It was too good let go and so I bought it for seventy rupees which was a bit on the higher side.

The next find too was another cookbook that I spotted in a heap of books selling for twenty rupees. I saw a tattered copy of ‘Pure Vegetarian Indian Cookery’ by Pritam Uberoi. Leafing through it I found a few interesting recipes which I thought I would want to try out someday when the missus would let me enter the kitchen.

Then in another heap of books selling for only twenty rupees I saw a nice copy of ‘A Touch of Danger’ by James Jones. Now I haven’t yet read anything by James Jones though there is a copy of his ‘From Here to Eternity’ that I look at now and then and balk at reading such a thick tome. I thought this smaller book would be a good way to get started on James Jones and what’s more it was a thriller so I picked it up.

After finishing at Abids I stopped at Chikkadpally on the way home and right away spotted a copy of ’84, Charing Cross Road’ by Helene Hanff that had a cover different from the covers of the three copies I had at home. This would be my fourth copy and I bought it since I was getting it for only thirty rupees. It was a Penguin edition and had such a lovely cover you could say I bought it for the cover alone.

The Sunday Haul (on 11-02-2018)

On some Sundays I am compelled to a brief visit lasting less than an hour at Abids. On such occasions I do a sort of whirlwind tour of some of the sellers where there is the possibility of finding something new. Last Sunday I had a function to attend and though I had decided in the morning not to go to Abids I changed my mind at the last minute and went. Even before I could go to the café at Abids to have chai with my friends I had already found two titles.

A long time back I had found a copy of Chandra Padmanabhan’s ‘Dakshin: Vegetarian Delicacies from South India’ that I had got quite cheap. Last Sunday I came across another copy but with a different cover. It was ina good condition and after some initial hesitation I bought it.
The second find too was another cookbook. I had bought a copy of Thangam Philip’s ‘Modern Cookery’ somewhere and so the name was familiar. I came across a copy of ‘A Touch of Spice’ that was in a good condition. It was a small, attractive book that I bought right away for just thirty rupees.

Though I wanted to check out other sellers I was running late to a function I had to attend so I left after just a little under an hour’s browsing at Abids that yielded two titles.

The Sunday Haul (on 04-02-2018)

Until I reached Abids last Sunday I was of a firm resolve in mind. I had decided not to buy any books at Abids since I had picked up twenty six books at the Hyderabad Book Fair less than a week ago. It would be madness to add more books to the large haul or so I thought until I saw a mouth-watering title on the shelf with one of the sellers at Abids. I saw a nice copy of ‘The East Indian Kitchen’ by Michael Swamy that had the sort of cover that mades me go weak at the knees. I had come across the name ‘Michael Swamy’ only the previous week somewhere. I decided I would buy just one title and temporarily put my resolve on hold. I got this wonderful title for seventy rupees.

A week before my birthday a dear friend asks me which title I would like to get as a present. This year I decided to ask for a cookbook and while searching for something good I came across ‘The Complete Vegetable Cookbook’ by Vasantha Moorthy that looked good but the price was too, too high. So I opted for something different and got it only today. The second title I found at Abids last Sunday was a copy of ‘The Complete Vegetable Cookbook’ by Vasantha Moorthy. I did not hesitate because I was getting it for just a hundred rupees whereas the online price was over five thousand rupees. However the copy I found was in a good condition except that the bound pages were detached from the spine on the inside. It was a big disappointment since everything else was in good shape. But I bought it since it wasn’t something that couldn’t be fixed. I could glue together the cover and the rest of the book.

Then just as I was thinking that there was no chance I would find another title I would be tempted to buy I came across a fat book with a cover I couldn’t take my eyes off from. It was a copy of ‘The Portable Plato’ edited by Scott Buchanan. Inside it said ‘Protagoras, Symosium, Phaedo, and the Republic, complete, in the English Translation by Benjamin Jowett.’ It was no small book but was a nearly 700 pages tome. I got it for just fifty rupees. With these three titles the number of books I bought in 2018 so far adds up to thirty six.

The Hyderabad Book Fair Haul- Day 5

On all the four days I have been to the Book Fair I haven’t even looked at a regular book stall since there were too many second hand book stalls I wanted to check out. But on my fifth visit to the Book Fair I decided to check out a stall for something I’ve been telling myself I would do since a long, long time. Hindi was my second language at school so it means I can read and write in Hindi. But I have never read anything in Hindi since passing out of school. I loved all the stories and poems I read in the text books in school. I have always wanted to read a Hindi novel since it makes no sense knowing a language pretty well and not reading good books in that language. It seemed pretty dumb to me so I promised myself I would read a classic novel in Hindi. I made this promise about four or five years ago and on my fifth visit to the book fair I came closer to keeping this promise. I saw the stall of Milind Prakashan and looked around. I had written down a few titles and a few authors I wanted to find at the book fair and one of them was ‘Gunahon ka Devta’ by Dharam Vir Bharti. I found a nice copy of ‘Gunahon ka Devta’ by Dharam Vir Bharti and picked it up. I hope to start reading it someday soon.

In the book stall where there was as a heap of books selling three for hundred rupees I looked for good titles. Ever since I’ve read ‘The Gathering’ by Anne Enright I have been a huge fan of her writing. Sometime back I had found a copy of ‘The Pleasures of Eliza Lynch’ and I looked forward to reading other Anne Enright titles. Only last month I found a copy of 'The Green Road' too but I haven't yet started reading it. At one of the second hand book stalls I found a copy of ‘The Forgotten Waltz’ by Anne Enright and picked it up as the first of the set of three books I could buy for hundred rupees.

Another writer I enjoyed reading is William Trevor. I already have a copy of ‘Love and Summer’ by William Trevor but when I saw another copy of the same title I picked it up as the second book of the set. I want to give it to anyone who asks me to recommend a good book to read. I couldn’t find a third book to make up the set of three so I decided to buy a different book. I think it was my friend Jai who told me that Carl Muller’s books were funny. I saw a copy of ‘The Jam Fruit Tree’ by Carl Muller and bought it thinking of what Jai had told me. I hope I enjoy reading it.