At last came the news that I had been eagerly and anxiously waiting for since the last one year. The Hyderabad Book Fair was to start from December 18 and end ten days later on the 27th. I know I would be picking up at least a dozen books in the almost daily visits I planned to make to the Book Fair over its duration. So even as I waited anxiously for December 18th and the many delights that would follow I couldn’t help but make another bountiful haul on my weekly visit to the second hand book market at Abids last Sunday.
There’s a seller at Abids who regularly stocks copies of only new titles that are in almost new condition. A few of them he sells at different but higher prices (but lesser than the original price on the sticker) but a large number of titles he heaps in piles that he sells for Rs 50 or Rs 100 each. Last Sunday in his pile of Rs 50 books I spotted a beautiful copy of ‘The Testament of Mary’ by Colm Toibin. When I read on the cover that it was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize I decided to take it.
When I reached the GPO at Abids with Grand Hotel behind it I realized it had been a long time since I tasted bun-maska. After having the bun-maska amidst the noise and din of a busy Irani café, I spotted a book with an eye-catching cover with a seller a few steps away from Grand Hotel. I picked it up and saw that it was a beautiful copy of ‘Across the Chicken Neck: Travels in Northeast India’ by Nandita Haksar. It was about author’s travels in the North East states where I had been only twice in my life- once to Nagaland to attend a workshop in Kohima. It was here that I had the rare opportunity of shaking hands with the Chief Minister of a state. A year later I was in Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh to attend another workshop. I went on a trip to Ziro valley that seemed too beautiful to believe. It was an unforgettable experience. My next find was in another pile of Rs 50 books with another seller in front of the Bata store. I saw a small sized book- ‘The Painter of Modern Life’ by Charles Baudelaire and added it to my haul without a second thought. On the way home I stopped at the first of the four sellers at Chikkadpally to take a look. The books were laid out in such a manner that only the spines faced up. But even they were arranged in a haphazard manner making it difficult to read the titles on the spine. Anyway turning my head this way and that way I managed to spot a title that I had not expected to find- ‘Our Non-Veg Cow and Other Stories’ by Mahasweta Devi translated by Paramita Banerjee, with an introduction by Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Seagull Books is the publisher of this wonderful collection of stories. It has the following ten stories:
Those Boys; Nyadosh, the Incredible Cow; Not a Cock and Bull Story; Phalgu’s Story; Phalgu and the Cheetah-Man; The Seven Ghosts; Khudey the Dacoit; Shivaji’s Horse; All Alone; and Chittu.
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