The Sunday Haul (on 20-05-2018)

Last Sunday, once again, I was alone at Abids and ended up finding four good titles on a morning when it wasn’t too hot to be outdoors. Though the sun was out it wasn’t uncomfortable with a cap on the head. The first title I found was a wonderful book. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Mother of 1084’ by Mahashweta Devi on the pavement and picked it up to take a look. I have come across a few copies of this title but hadn’t bought any for some reason. But last Sunday I decided to buy the copy I found. I don’t know when I will find the time to read but I will read it one day. I got it for thirty rupees.

Another interesting find was ‘The Use and Abuse of Literature’ by Marjorie Garber that I saw with another seller. I did not buy it right away and asked the seller to keep it aside. Luckily he did not have the change for the five hundred rupee note I had and I told him I would pick it up which would give me time to decide whether to buy it or not. But in the end I bought it for a hundred rupees.

The third find in the haul on Sunday was a copy of ‘The Song of Anasuya’ by Uma Vasudev. It appeared like one of those titles published in the sixties-seventies. It was a small sized, slim book not more than a hundred and fifty pages. I hadn’t heard of the author and thought it would be an interesting read and bought it for just thirty rupees.

The fourth and last find of the haul on Sunday was a book by an author I would have had an idea about had I been a keen follower of movies. The movie ‘Schindler’s List’ directed by Spielberg is a classic but I haven’t watched it. I know that’s stupid but now I know that the movie is based on a book of the same name written by Thomas Keneally, an Australian writer. Peter Carey, Helen Garner, and recently Ray Eriksen are some of the Australian writers whose books I had read but I wasn’t aware of Thomas Keneally until last Sunday. I was drawn to a book that I instinctively knew was a book worth picking up when I saw the attractive cover. It was a copy of ‘Season in Purgatory by Thomas Keneally that was with a seller who does not know the value of the books he sells. I got this wonderful title for just twenty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 13-05-2018)

It was neither very hot nor very cool but normal weather last Sunday in Hyderabad. It was good enough weather for a couple of hours browsing in the open at Abids. I had a friend along and that put me in a good mood which further improved after I spotted the first title in the haul. It was a mouth-watering title about something that every true blue Hyderabadi always dreams about twenty four hours of the day-Biryani. I found a nice copy of ‘Biryani’ by Pratibha Karan, a hardcover copy that I had to pay two hundred and fifty rupees to buy. I was surprised to read that Pratibha Karan is an IAS officer, now retired. The book had recipes of more than hundred types of biryani from all corners of the country. Though there doesn’t appear any chance for me to try out some of the recipes in the book I bought it just for the pleasure of owning a beautifully produced book.

Another wonderful find was a copy of ‘Cast Me Out If You Will’ by Lalithambika Antherjanam. I had read about Lalithambika Antherjanam a long time but haven’t read anything written by her. ‘Cast Me Out If You Will’ is a translation from the Malayalam and has an introduction by Gita Krishnankutty. It has a foreword by Susie Tharu and is divided into two parts. Part I has fourteen stories and Part II is the Memoir part with six essays.
These are the fourteen stories in ‘Cast Me Out If You Will’: The Power of Fate; In the Moonlight; The Goddess of Revenge; Admission of Guilt; Within the Folds of Seclusion; Wooden Cradles; The Devi and Her Devotee; Life and Death; A Leaf in the Whirlwind; ‘Come Back’; Daughter of Humanity; The Boon; Fulfillment; Dhirendu Majumdar’s Mother.

The last find was another interesting title. I found an ancient copy of ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by TE Lawrence that had a tape around its spine. I bought it when I read at the back that ‘No collection of modern classics would be complete without Seven Pillars of Wisdom.’ In one of the inside pages someone had scribbled his name and date which was September 7, 1963 which is about six months before I was born. The copy was around for fifty five years I realized after I bought it for eighty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 06-04-2018)

A few sharp showers in the evening sometime during the middle of last week helped a lot in bringing down the temperature for a couple of days. As a result of this last Sunday was not as hot it was the previous Sunday when the temperature had almost touched 42 degrees C. Though it wasn’t exactly pleasant on Sunday morning it wasn’t uncomfortably hot. This plus the fact that I was friendless helped me focus on the titles of books heaped on the pavements at Abids last Sunday. All this resulted in a wonderful four book haul that filled me with the joy that only people who love books feel on finding good books.

It was only after I had the chai all alone at our regular Irani café that I found the first good title of the day. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Murder in the Kitchen’ by Alice B Toklas and picked it up for a closer look because the name Alice B Toklas rang a bell in my mind. ‘Murder in the Kitchen’ is described as a memoir-turned-cookbook at the back and since it was a combination (memoir + cookbook) I couldn’t resist buying it. Inside i read that Toklas had been a sort of companion to Gertrude Stein, and both hosted a salon that attracted Hemingway, Paul Bowles, Scott F Fitzgerald, Picasso, Matisse etc. Besides, the seller asked for only thirty rupees for this slim volume.

A very long time back I had picked up a book by Sandor Marai, the Hungarian novelist I had read about in J.M. Coetzee’s book of essays. It was in ‘Inner Workings- Essays 2000-2005’ that I had first read about Sandor Marai and subsequently found ‘Conversations in Bolzano’ after missing buying it the first time I saw it. At the bunch of sellers near the Head Post Office in Abids I spotted a copy of ‘Embers’ by Sandor Marai, the same book Coetzee had written about in detail. The translator was Carol Brown Janeway. I was careful not to show my excitement at finding it because the sellers could make it out and quote a high price. As expected he quoted the astronomical price of a hundred and eighty rupees. I asked for eighty rupees and walked away as if I was not very interested in the book. The gambit paid off since the seller called me and gave it at my price.

Not the last find of the day but the last find at Abids was a title I saw with the seller near Hollywood shoes. It was a beautiful copy of ‘The Long March’ by William Styron that I spotted moments before I had decided to call it a day at Abids and was about to get on my bike. It was only eighty eight pages long but I paid eighty rupees for it because I WANTED it. I have read Styron’s memoir of depression, ‘Darkness Visible’ and also a book of essays ‘This Quiet Dust and Other Writings’ but haven’t yet read his most famous work, ‘Sophie’s Choice’ that I plan to read one of these days. With three wonderful titles in the bag I started off for home thinking I had a great haul until I reached Chikkadpally. There I came across the find of the day.

At a seller at Chikkadpally I spotted a few old books and decided to take a closer look since it was here that I found some old Orient Paperbacks titles with glorious covers. I spotted a nice copy of ‘The Colossus of Maroussi’ by Henry Miller that appeared to have been published long back. I checked inside and found that it was originally published in 1941 and the copy I had was a 1963 reprint. I felt unusually happy finding this title and was quite surprised when the seller asked for only twenty five rupees for this wonderful book. Later at home I read inside and read that Henry Miller’s original intention was to write just one big book, ‘The Story of My Misfortunes.’ Whatever, there’s one book by him I had picked up long back- The Books in My Life- that I thought was a wonderful book. But when I opened it I realized three fourths of the book was missing! I hadn’t checked the book properly before buying it, a basic mistake I make sometimes in my excitement at finding a good title.

The Sunday Haul (on 29-04-2018)

I knew it was going to be a hot day but I did not realize the temperature would be 42 degrees when I was at Abids. It was sizzling when I stepped out to look for the books on the pavements at Abids last Sunday with Uma. It was the hottest day of the season so far in Hyderabad last Sunday with the mercury touching 42˚ C making it very, very hot. Of course, we were prepared with caps and a bottle of water but being in the open for more than a few minutes wasn’t so easy. But somehow we managed to browse for more than an hour and ended up with a nice haul of four books.

I remember picking up a copy of ’Twenty One Stories’ by Graham Greene sometime back and also reading a story from it that I found in another copy of the same book that I found at Abids last Sunday. These are the stories in ‘Twenty One Stories’ by Graham Greene: The Destructors; Special Duties; The Blue Film; The Hint of an Explanation: When Greek Meets Greek; Men at Work; Alas, Poor Maling; The Case for the Defence; A Little Place off the Edgware Road; Across the Bridge; A Drive in the Country; The Innocent; The Basement Room; A Chance of Mr Lever; Brother; Jubilee; A Day Saved; I Spy; Proof Positive; The Second Death; The End of the Party.

Then with the same seller I saw a nice copy of ‘Land of Five Rivers’ by Khushwant Singh that had an attractive and colourful cover. Quite interestingly it has twenty one stories by writers from Punjab written in Punjabi (translated into English by others) and selected by Khushwant Singh. These are the stories in it:

‘A Punjab Pastorale’ by Khushwant Singh
‘Stench of Kerosene’ by Amrita Pritam
‘Lajwanti’ by Rajinder Singh Bedi
‘A Hundred Mile Race’ by Balwant Gargi
‘The Night of the Full Moon’ by Kartar Singh Duggal
'Reflections on the Golden Bed' by Mulk Raj Anand
'Hunger' by Krishen Singh Dhodi
'Gods on Trial' by Gulzar Singh Sandhu
'How Sohne Shan Once Lost His Temper' by G.D. Khosla
'The Death of Shaikh Burhanuddin' by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
'The Mahabharata Retold' by Satindra Singh
'Tai Eesree' by Krishen Chandra
'The Blind Alley' by Gurmukh Singh Jeet
'Saadat' by Yashpal
'Soorma Singh' by Balwant Singh
'The Nuptial Bed' by Upendra Nath Ask
'Happy New Year' by Ajeet Cour
'One Passenger, Ho !' by Santokh Singh Dhir
'Breaking Point' by Usha Mahajan
'Strange New World' by Kulwant Singh Virk
'Exchange of Lunatics' by Saadat Hasan Manto

I bought these two books for hundred rupees which wasn’t much.

Then I found another cookbook by Pritam Uberoi who seems to have written quite a number of cookbooks because only recently I had found a cookbook by her at Abids. It was the ‘Indian Cookery’ by Pritam Uberoi that I found. I got this book with an attractive cover for just thirty rupees.

Then again I found yet another book on writing. Only the other Sunday I had found a copy of ‘Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Fiction’ by Janet Burroway at Abids and now I found ‘The Simon & Schuster Guide to Writing; Second Edition’ by Jeanette Harris and Donald C. Cunningham that I picked up without a second thought. It is difficult for me to resist buying books on writing though I do not know if reading the dozens of books on writing I found in the past has helped me in anyway. Though I have not been writing anything significant I have been reading books on writing quite religiously since a long, long time.