The New Pens in My Life

Sometime in February this year, my friend and fellow bibliophile Jai gave me a pleasant surprise by gifting me a Misak fountain pen after I casually mentioned to him that I was looking for another Misak in addition to the one I already had. Jai gave me a Misak almost exactly like the one I had except for minor differences. I fitted a Sheaffer nib I had lying with me to it and now it writes wonderfully. This is the Misak I got from Jai:

I had come across the name ‘Kanwrite’ somewhere but I did not realize that it was an Indian fountain pen brand. Someone in a fountain pen group on FB mentioned a name and a number of ‘Kanwrite’ makers. I sent a message on Whatsapp and got a sort of catalogue of dozens of beautiful looking pens in different colours. This is the ‘Kanwrite Desire’ I eventually selected and got within a week of ordering it. It is a beauty with a smooth finish.

The Sunday Haul (on 18-03-2018)

Perhaps to make up for the zero haul at Abids the previous Sunday, last Sunday yielded another wonderful haul. Three of the four titles I found were truly eye-popping titles of which one was a truly spectacular find. The haul did not coming cheap though for I ended up paying quite a bit. But I think they were all worth the six hundred and fifty rupees I shelled out for them.

The first find last Sunday at Abids was the aforementioned spectacular title. I spotted ‘The Greek Myths’ emblazoned in gold on the red cover. It was too striking to miss and as soon I saw it I decided to buy the book whatever the price. It turned out to be not one book but two volumes of the same title when I took a closer look. The two volumes were inside a half box which, I later discovered is called a ‘slipcase.’ When I took the two volumes out and looked at the illustrated cover I was taken aback.

It was The Folio Society edition and the books were very, very beautiful. I thought the seller would ask for something like a thousand rupees for the two-volume set. I was willing to pay that much but I was pleasantly surprised when he said the price was five hundred rupees but would give them to me for four hundred rupees. I paid three hundred and fifty rupees and the set was mine. It was a steal and I was pleased like anything at having found a wonderful title.

The second find at Abids was some kind of a mix about movies, books and a famous Hollywood actress. I found a copy of ‘5th Avenue 5 AM’ by Sam Wasson. It was about the making of the movie ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s based on the book with the same title by Truman Capote, starring Audrey Hepburn. I don’t know why I bought it but I paid forty rupees for it.

After finding these titles at Abids the rest of the haul got added at Chikkadpally on the way home. Sometime in 2015 at a sale by Best Books I had found a copy of ‘Avarana’ by SL Bhyrappa. It was a huge tome running into hundreds of pages. Like ‘Avarana’ ‘Parva’ that I found at Chikkadpally was another tome of 950 odd pages. It would take more than a month for me to finish reading it. But I was terribly pleased I did not hesitate to buy the Sahitya Akademi English version of ‘Parva’ by SL Bhyrappa the moment I saw it. I do not have any idea about it and I bought it thinking it would be something good.

At the other seller in Chikkadpally I spotted another wonderful title. It was a title related to my favorite continent- Africa. Sometime after Doris Lessing won the Nobel in Literature I picked up a copy of ‘The Golden Notebook’ but never got around to reading it. When I saw another title, a non-fiction title, by Lessing I picked it up. It was a copy of ‘African Laughter- Four Visits to Zimbabwe’ that seems to be some kind of a travelogue. I was just unconsciously looking for something like this on Africa I guess. I am glad I have something more and something very good on Africa by a Nobel laureate to read. I bought it for hundred rupees but I think it will be worth a lot more than that.

The Sunday Haul (on 04-03-2018)

If anyone had wanted proof that summer had already come to Hyderabad he would have got it last Sunday. Out at Abids in the morning around eleven it already felt uncomfortably warm. It was going to be a hot day I knew so I was prepared. I had a cap on and had also brought along a bottle of water. But there was no one to share it with since none of my friends turned up. I browsed the titles laid out on the pavements all alone. By the end of two hours I had a haul of five books including a cookbook.

I guess it was ‘Dark Star Safari’ by Paul Theroux that roused my interest in Africa that I wanted to visit and see the vast continent for myself. Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ further deepened the hunger to know more. Then came ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton and I was captivated by Africa. I still am and if anyone asks me if there’s any place I want to visit first and last I would say one of the African countries, preferably Nigeria-Achebe country. Anyway, since it looks like I would have to settle for finding more of my Africa in Abids I love to let others know about the great African writers and their books. My first find at Abids last Sunday was another copy of ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton that had a cover very different from the usual ones I had seen earlier. It was a good copy and I couldn’t help buying it. I got it for just thirty rupees.

After finding ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton I sat in the café alone and leafed through it. I read the interesting story behind the writing and publication of this classic. I had read the tale earlier in his autobiography ‘Towards the Mountain’ that I was lucky enough to find. This edition had a foreword by the publisher, Charles Scribner Jr.

The next find was shortly after I came out of the café. I saw a copy of ‘Trust Me’ by John Updike. It was a collection of short stories and since I haven’t read many short stories by Updike I picked it up. These are the 22 stories in this collection: Trust Me; Killing; Still of Some Use; The City; The Lovely Troubled Daughters of Our Old Crowd; Unstuck; A Constellation of Events; Death of Distant Friends; Pygmalion; More Stately Mansions; Learn a Trade; The Ideal Village; One More Interview; The Other; Slippage; Poker Night; Made in Heaven; Getting into the Set; The Wallet; Leaf Season; Beautiful Husbands; the Other Woman.

Many a time I’ve picked up books by unknown authors that turned out to be either good reads or books that’s been made into movies. Last Sunday I spotted a book that I had a hunch could be a good read. It was a copy of ‘Under a Raging Sky’ by Daniel Carney and picked it up to take a closer look. I read the movies ‘Wild Geese’ and ‘Wild Geese II’ were based on the novels of Daniel Carney. That was enough to make me buy ‘Under a Raging Sky’ and I got it for thirty rupees only. I hope to find more of his books in the future.

The next find was a great title. I found a copy of ‘Bhava’ by UR Ananthamurthy. I have a copy of ‘Samskara’ that I haven’t yet read but in January at the Hyderabad Literary Festival I had watched the movie ‘Ghatashraddha’ based on UR Anantamurthy’s work. The copy I found seemed to have been discarded by some library whose stamp on one of the pages was smudged. I got this copy for fifty rupees
The last find was a hefty volume. It was ‘Chef's Vegetarian Favorites from the Taj' 2006 of the Taj Group, all of five hundred pages containing recipes of vegetarian dishes from the many hotels of the Taj group in India and also in other countries. I bought this tome for a hundred rupees.

The Holi/World Book Day Haul

Last Thursday happened to be a holiday for us blokes in the Telangana government because it was Holi. It also happened to be World Book Day something which I did not bother very greatly since I felt that for me every day was a book day. Since I was at home due to the holiday I decided to do two book related things:- Read a book, buy a book.

One of the couple of things I wanted to do in 2018 was to prepare a list of titles I have to read and begin reading them one by one. One of the titles in this ‘to read’ list is ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald that pickedup at Abids the previous Sunday. I decided to begin reading it and right after breakfast I opened it and plunged into the world of Gatsby. I managed to read it until the last page reading it well past my usual sleeping time and finally finished it at eleven in the night.

Since buying a book was the second goal of the day I decided the Best Book Centre secondhand store at Lakdi ka Pul would be a nice place to hunt. I still regret not having bought the copy of Ngugu wa Thiong’O’s ‘Matigari’ that I had seen a couple of years ago at another second-hand bookstore. I had never heard of Ngugi and hand no idea who he was. Last month Ngugi mentioned ‘Matigari’ in wonderful talk he gave during his visit to Hyderabad. I still find it unbelievable that I had seen him in person. Though I had managed to get his signature on my copies of ‘Petals of Blood’ and ‘Dreams in a Time of War’ I feel like kicking myself for not getting photographed with him.

Anyway, at the Best Book Centre store I saw a nice copy of ‘Matigari’ on one of the shelves and I grabbed it. But it did not come cheap since I had to pay a hundred and eighty rupees for it. Whatever, I had the quiet satisfaction of celebrating ‘World Book Day’ for the first time in my life in a befitting manner by reading a book and also buying one.

The Sunday Haul (on 25-02-2018): Joy and Disappointment

In more than half the books on writing that I’ve read, and that’s about three hundred or so, there’s a title that’s mentioned unfailingly. Quite surprisingly I never had more than a normal desire to read it. Somehow, I did not come across ‘The Great Gatsby’ by Scott F. Fitzgerald anywhere at all and so when I saw it at Abids last Sunday I grabbed it. I got it for forty rupees. I was more than glad to have found this book that I had planned to find and read during this year. I had made a list of titles that I wanted to read this year so I got started off on it by starting to read ‘The Great Gatsby’ yesterday (Wednesday) with the intention of finishing on March 1.

The joy was meeting Jai again after a short gap. The real reason behind my joy was that he had brought with him a Misak to give to me when I had mentioned to him that I wanted one. Sometime back I had been to the Hilal pen store near Charminar and picked up a fat, brown fountain pen that wrote like a dream after I fitted a Sheaffer nib to it. I had been to Charminar to check on the store but was shocked to learn that the shop had shut down. Anyway, Jai came to my rescue and presented me with another Misak fountain pen that was exactly like the one I had. It is so wonderful to have such friends in life who unhesitatingly give away things that would bring joy to others. Thanks Jai.

Soon after that joy came the disappointment but I did not know it at that time. Ross Macdonald is one writer whose books I never fail to buy. It seems to have been my lucky day at Abids since I spotted ‘The Eighth Dwarf’ by Ross Macdonald with a seller. I was in a hurry to leave as I had guests at home waiting for me to bring biryani for lunch so I gave the book a cursory glance and took it. In the evening when I looked at the book again I realized that I had made a fundamental mistake. I had failed to check if the book had all pages. The copy of ‘The Eighth Dwarf’ I found had only 255 pages whereas an internet search showed that there are 319 pages in the book. It wasn’t the fact that I had paid forty rupees for this incomplete book that hurt me but that I had failed to check the book thoroughly that did.