The Sunday Haul (on 22-05-2022)

It had rained a bit sometime during the week in Hyderabad and the mercury had come down making it cooler. I was at Abids last Sunday at my usual time and on my usual hunt for good titles of which there are too many. I ended up four good titles in my haul at Abids last Sunday.

The first title I bought at Abids was a book that I almost missed finding. It was half hidden under a stack of large sized books on top of a bookshelf, and I spotted when I went closer to look at the title on the spine. It was a slim, small volume and it was Graham Greene’s ‘A Sense of Reality’ with four stories ( Under the Garden, A Visit to Morin, Dream of a Strange Land, and A Discovery in the Woods).  I got it for hundred rupees.

The next find was a nice looking Penguin title- ‘The Summer House’ by Alice Thomas Ellis. I had not heard or read about the author before so I was undecided whether to pick it up or not. When I saw on the cover that it was not only a trilogy but was also made into a movie my decision was made. I got this title too for a hundred rupees.

I cannot resist any book with an attractive cover so when I saw a book with an eye-catching cover from afar I looked closer and saw that it was a copy of ‘Where Gods Dwell’ by Kusum Budhwar. It is a collection of folktales and legends from the Central Himalaya. It is such a beautiful looking book that I couldn’t resist buying it and the fact that it was a Penguin title made it doubly impossible not to buy it.

My curiosity about knowing about other parts and countries of the world is growing by the day. The happenings in Sri Lanka have made me claim a book on the island from a seller on WhatsApp that I am yet to get in the mail. I saw another title at Abids on Sunday ‘Sri Lanka- A Land in Search of Itself’ Mohan K. Tikku that was a National Book Trust title. I flipped through it and decided to buy it.

The Sunday Haul (on 15-05-2022)

Though not as hot as it was the previous Sunday it was uncomfortably warm in Hyderabad last Sunday. It was almost noon when I reached Abids to look for good titles from among the thousands of books laid out on the pavements every Sunday in Abids. It wasn’t until an hour had passed before I found a wonderful title.

When I was just beginning to go to Abids after a friend took me there one Sunday many years ago I used to see a lot of copies of ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton but it never struck me to pick it up. I did not buy this classic because I was ignorant and assumed it was no good. I was into thrillers and had not yet discovered what a good book reads like. But later on I picked up a copy of it when I read somewhere about it being a classic. I was glad I picked it up and read it soon afterwards because it was such a beautiful story about the innocence of the black people. I had a lump in my throat when I read the part about the hanging of the narrator’s son. I found many other copies of ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ that I gave out to friends, and last week I found a beautiful Penguin edition with an illustration by Paul Hogarth on the cover. It was in a pile of books selling for Rs 50.

I love reading about places and travelogues are a favorite genre that fill my bookshelves. Last Sunday I saw a copy of ‘Kathmandu’ by Thomas Bell with a vivid cover that was difficult to ignore. Also the fact that it was a Penguin title made it hard not to buy though the seller quoted a steep price. I did not want to miss buying it so I paid whatever the seller asked for and picked up the book. The price was Rs 200.

The Sunday Haul (on 08-05-2022)

 

Mercifully it wasn’t too hot in Hyderabad last Sunday but it was hot enough to make me wear a cap at Abids. Since the Ramzan festival was over the stores selling dresses, shoes etc were closed and so the sellers of second hand books were present in their usual spots. On Sunday Abids looked normal and somehow I was pleased when I found four good titles.

Of late I am reading more non-fiction than fiction and travelogues account for a large space on my bookshelves. I keep reading in the papers how the war in Ukraine is affecting movement of wheat, cooking oil, and I wondered how it all happens. I also love to know about such things so when I spotted a copy of ‘Merchants of Grain’ by Dan Morgan I thought I’d buy it when I read that it was all about how wheat is marketed. I am reading it currently and it is fascinating account of the global merchants who deal in wheat and other grains moving it from one continent and other and making/losing millions.

Somehow I haven’t read anything by Lawrence Durrell or any of the Durrell brothers though I have read how good their books are. I spotted a copy of ‘The Dark Labyrinth’ by Lawrence Durrell that looked old and somewhat battered. It turned out to be a copy from Meghalaya State Central Library at Shillong making one wonder how it ended up here. I got it for fifty rupees only.

I had been seeing this title with various sellers at various times but did not buy it because the price was too high. Finally, last Sunday when I spotted another copy I decided to buy it whatever the price and was surprised to get a copy ‘The English’ by Jeremy Paxman for just a hundred rupees. It was a nice copy that looked almost new and I was glad I got it pretty cheap.

This title too was one I had been seeing with the same seller for a long time but hesitated to buy it for some unknown reason. Though it said on the cover that it was ‘One Fourteenth of an Elephant’ Ian Denys Peek I wasn’t very sure about how it was. So every time I walked away I had a strange feeling that I might be missing something good because on the cover it said ‘A memoir of life and death on the Burma-Thailand Railway’ that brought to mind the Man Booker prize winning ‘Narrow Road to the Deep North’ by Richard Flanagan.  So last Sunday I finally bought it and I paid hundred rupees for it.

Here's a corner of the Sunday second-hand book market at Abids in Hyderabad.

The Sunday Haul (on 01-05-2022)

It isn’t even peak summer here in Hyderabad but the temperatures are hovering around 40 degrees C every day. It was no different last Sunday as I set out for Abids in the morning with a water bottle and a cap. Though it was very hot the usual crowd was present browsing the titles laid out on the pavements at Abids. I joined the crowd and was rewarded with a haul of three good titles.

A few years back, in 2015 to be exact,  I had picked up a copy of ‘Paraja’ by Gopinath Mohanty but never got around to reading it. I had kept it aside to read it during vacation period but it never happened. However, I felt glad that I had found a wonderful book and keep looking at it often wondering when I will get to read it. At Abids last Sunday this was the first title I came across, and after some hesitation, I decided to buy it even if I haven't read the first copy I had on my shelf. One doesn't come across such titles too often so buy them when you find them. 

With another seller in front of the GPO I saw a nice copy of ‘Never Far from Nowhere’ by Andrea Levy. I bought it because I had read the author’s name somewhere but nothing about her titles came to mind so I decided to take a gamble and bought for a hundred rupees. (I have forgotten to take a pic of the cover.)

I had read almost all the books that VS Naipaul wrote but the only title I hadn’t read was ‘The Masque of Africa’ that I had come across many times but was put off by the price. So when I saw this almost brand new copy with a seller at Chikkadpally I decided to buy it even though the price was a bit too high. I got it for two hundred rupees but I guess the book is worth it. Apart from being a Naipaul title it is also another addition to the growing collection of Africa titles on my shelf