The Sunday Haul (24/07/2022)

The weather in Hyderabad, or rather, Telangana has changed a lot. There have been spells of rains almost every day, some very heavy, causing a lot of damage. One has learnt to check the weather forecast first thing in the day. Last Sunday however, it did not rain though it was cloudy, at least in the morning when I started out for Abids. After about an hour and half going around the lanes and by-lanes I ended up with three good titles. 

The first book I saw was a nice copy of ‘A Bit of Singing and Dancing’ by Susan Hill which is a collection of eleven short stories- Halloran’s Child; Mr Proudham and Mr Sleight; In the Conservatory; How Soon Can I Leave; The Custodian; A Bit of Singing and Dancing; The Peacock; Missy; The Badness Within Him; Red and Green Beads; and Ossie. I got it for a hundred rupees but I wasn’t happy because I left behind a copy of Vita Sackville West’s ‘St Joan of Arc’ and also ‘Goodbye to All That’ by Robert Graves. However, next Sunday I plan to buy them if they are still available. 

I can never tire of reading about Africa, and have so many books on or about Africa on my shelves that I feel like visiting at least one African country in my lifetime. Last Sunday with a seller who sells almost new books I saw a nice copy of ‘Continental Shift: An Investigative Journey into Africa’s 21^st Century’ by Kevin Bloom & Richard Poplak that I immediately bought for two hundred rupees. ‘Continental Shift’ is an account by two S.African journalists of the sixteen African countries they travelled to. This appears a very good and informative book and I can’t wait to read it.  

Later on the way home, at Chikkadpally, I saw a small pile of translated books in the Literature in Translation series by Orient Longman.  At the bottom of the pile was a copy of ‘Sand and Other Stories’ by Ashokamitran  (Translated by N.Kalyan Raman and Gomathi Narayanan) that I got for eighty rupees. It has a foreword by Malayalam author, Paul Zacharia, and has three novellas- Sand (Manal translated by N.Kalyan Raman), Malati translated by N.Kalyan Raman, Those Two (Iruvar translated by Gomathi Narayanan). I was thrilled to find another title by Ashokamitran to add to my collection of his titles. But I was also a bit disappointed that I had not bought the rest of the titles in the pile that I hope to pick up next Sunday.