What I love about the second hand book market in Abids in my city of Hyderabad is that it is a virtual treasure trove from which I’ve picked up hundreds of wonderful titles, but also that one would find great books being sold for as little as ten rupees which is less than what you’d pay for a cup of chai here. There are a few sellers who have heaps of books selling for just ten rupees. In one such heap I spotted a copy of ‘The Oranging of America’ by Max Apple. I was intrigued to see that it was a faber &faber title and so picked it up. It turned out to be a collection of short stories by an author I had not heard of before but looked quite promising so I picked it up.
I
can never get enough of Africa and books about Africa. I am always on the look
out for books set in or about Africa and if I don’t find any new titles I
reread books on Africa that I already have. Only last week I had finished
reading ‘The Healing Land’ by Rupert Isaacson that is about the Kalahari and I
was wondering what to read next when I spotted ‘Swahili for the Broken-Hearted’
by Peter Moore on a makeshift bookshelf of a seller at Abids. It was just the
book I needed so I bought it even though the seller asked for a hundred rupees
for it. I have already started reading it and Peter Moore is quite funny. I
want to read his other books now if I can find them.
No matter how many books on writing I have on my shelves I can never resist buying books on writing. At Chikkadpally I spotted a nice copy of ‘Writing with Power’ by Peter Elbow with a seller. Expecting that he would ask two hundred rupees for it which I was ready to pay I was pleasantly shocked when he asked just fifty rupees for it. I already have another Peter Elbow title on writing I don’t remember which but this title was a welcome addition to the large collection of books on writing that I have managed to amass over the years.
So
far I must have picked up more than half a dozen copies of ‘The Great Railway
Bazaar’ by Paul Theroux and given them away to friends and others. I had seen
another nice copy of the same title at a seller at RTC X Roads the previous
Sunday that I did not take though it was for only fifty rupees. Last Sunday
however I picked it up when I saw it at the same spot. It was a beautiful copy
that appeared almost new.
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