The Sunday Haul (on 20/12/2020)

Happy Christmas!

It was a bright and sunny morning on Sunday when I reached Abids. The weather in Hyderabad is wonderful at this time of the year though it is a bit cold the sun is always out and the mornings are warm and bright. The previous Sunday I had seen two titles that I wanted to buy but the prices the seller quoted put me off. Later I felt I should have paid whatever he had asked and picked up the books, and had regretted I had not done so.

Last Sunday I thought the first thing I would do was to pick up those two books. Fortunately no one had bought them probably because the seller is a bit far away from the usual places. I picked up the nice copy of ‘The Global Soul’ by Pico Iyer that was the first title I had not picked up the previous Sunday. It had a striking cover with colourful ballpoint pens on it. I already have a copy of ‘The Global Soul’ though with a different cover but I bought this copy for its good condition and attractive cover.

The second title I had missed the previous Sunday was the copy of ‘At Play in the Fields of the Lord’ by Peter Matthiessen that was almost new. Except ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen that I had read almost half a dozen times I had not read anything else by Matthiessen. So finding this title had me pretty excited. I got these two titles for three hundred and fifty rupees, a steep price but totally worth it I guess.

Even before I found these two titles there was another book I came across- a copy of ‘Journals’ by Robert Falcon Scott, an account of Captain Scott’s Last Expedition based on the journals maintained by Captain Scott. It is a thick volume and I think this is my second book about the explorer. Earlier I had found a copy of ‘The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, an account of Scott’s last Atlantic Expedition.

Hyderabad Book Fair news

A prominent seller at the Abids book bazaar gave me some good news. When I asked him if the Hyderabad Book Fair was as good as cancelled he gave me the good news that it was likely that the Book Fair would be held in February. Hearing it lifted my spirits because I had almost given up hope that the Book Fair would not be held at all due to the pandemic. I am really looking forward to more news about the Hyderabad Book Fair soon. 

The Sunday Haul (13/12/2020)

Last week there was another minor flood of books. I bought six books all in a matter of a few days. On Saturday, a holiday being a second Saturday I dropped in at the Unique bookstore in Lakdikapul-Khairatabad road. On an earlier visit I had spotted a book that I could not buy for some reason. On Saturday I noticed it was still available on the shelf. It was a nice copy of ‘Seven Sacred Rivers’ by Bill Aitken, a book I had read a long time ago and lost somewhere. I think it was more than twenty years since I last read it and felt some kind of attachment to the title. I wanted to read it again so I picked it up.

The next day, Sunday that is, I was at Abids as usual. I was glad to find that the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kavery Nambisan I had mulled about buying for about three weeks was there with the same seller. I got it for just fifty rupees. But I do not know when I would take it out to read, maybe sometime next year.

A long time ago, almost thirty years ago, I decided to become a writer and started jotting down ideas, random quotes and also titles of books I came across in books I read. Luckily for me I managed to hold on to these notebooks though I did not write much except a few short pieces. In one of those notebooks I had noted down the title ‘People Who Say Goodbye’ by P.Y. Betts. I remember the name of the author because I go through those notebooks now and then. Anyway, when I saw a copy of People Who Say Goodbye’ by P.Y. Betts I got the shock of my life. I did not expect to find it and therefore was excited that I found a book whose title I had noted down just out of curiosity and not with the intention of reading it. It was a beautiful, almost new copy that I got for a hundred rupees. Afterwards in the evening when I took out the notebook I saw that I had read about ‘People Who Say Goodbye’ by P.Y. Betts.in Dirk Bogarde’s ‘For the Time Being’ that was a sort of memoir. It was sometime in 2003 that I had read ‘For the Time Being’ and I still have the copy with me.

 

At a seller in Chikkadpally I found a copy of ‘French Lessons in Africa’ by Peter Biddlecombe. Earlier I had seen another title by the same author- that I did not think much of and hence did not buy. But when I read the word ‘Africa,’ one of my favourite parts of the world, and saw that it was a travel book I immediately bought it.

A bookseller I bought books from online led me to two WhatsApp groups of bookseller who conduct online sales and auctions of books. I joined and within days took part in an auction. I bid hard for a copy of ‘The Great Railway Bazaar’ by Paul Theroux that had a great cover and that seemed a first edition. I have a couple of copies of this title but not the one in the auction. I had to pay a steep amount to get this book for which many bibliophiles were bidding but in the end I got it.

In the same auction was a nice copy of ‘Portrait of India’ by Ved Mehta. It was a hard copy. Again I wanted it badly so I bid and outbid all of them to get it. Quite a drain on the wallet but I had two great titles after the auction ended. It was the first ever auction I took part in and I was quite excited that I got such good books.

The Sunday Haul (06-12-2020)

The previous Sunday due to a political rally the cops did not let the book sellers set up their wares on the pavements of Abids. Last Sunday they were back in full strength. I hoped to find a nice title or two but I landed only one book. I saw the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kavery Nambisan as wel as the copy of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ by  James M.Cain that I had seen a couple of weeks ago and that I had been planning to buy, at the same place. However last Sunday too I did not pick them up for some reason I am unable to fathom. I went around looking at the books and putting them back. I saw a nice hardcover copy of a book on Indian birds that was really good and that I should have picked up right away. But I did not take it and later regretted it.

However, with the same seller I saw a copy of The Infinite Plan’ by Isabel Allende on another shelf. I had missed buying titles by Isabel Allende I saw at Abids and later realized she has a large following. I did not want to miss this title and got it for a hundred rupees. With another seller I saw a nice copy of ‘Neither Here Nor There’ by Bill Bryson in a transparent plastic cover. I did not buy it though I wanted to buy it because the seller was a guy who asks for astronomical prices. I looked at it from afar and walked on, quietly glad that I did not have to wrestle with the seller over the price because I already have a copy.  

The saddest thing about 2020 is that the ‘Hyderabad Book Fair’ will not be held at all. It is held in December and by this time I would have been eagerly waiting for it. How I miss it!

The Sunday Haul (on 29/11/2020)

 As Abids came closer the number of traffic policemen on the road seemed to increase.  Then I noticed the barricades and realized that some VIP was traveling on the road. What I did not know was that it was something else.  The usual booksellers on the pavement of the main road along with the people who sold readymade clothes from pushcarts and tables on the edge of the road were absent. Later while parking the bike I remembered about the political rally that was to pass on the route. So the traffic cops hadn’t allowed any seller, vendor on the road the rally was supposed to pass. I was a bit disappointed since I had planned to pick up some titles I had missed buying the previous Sunday.

However in a lane I found the sellers who usually set shop there. In one of the piles I found an Orient Paperbacks title. Somehow I have developed this fascination for Orient Paperback titles by obscure and little-known writers published in the 60’s and 70’s. Writers like Leena Dhingra, Mayah Balse, and others. The book I saw had an arresting cover in read with an equally arresting title- ‘Assignment in Kashmir’ by Aamir Ali. I bought it for forty rupees. That was the only find at Abids but at another place I found the second title of the day.

At the seller who spreads his pile of books round the corner of the RTC X Roads junction I had looked at the titles displayed. It was on the second sweep of the eyes that I spotted the copy of ‘The Transfiguring Places’ by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.’ It gave me quite a thrill to find something by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra with his picture on the cover. The book was a hardcover with the jacket intact. Ravi Dayal is the publisher and it was published in 1998. There are thirty three poems in this title that I got for just thirty rupees.