It is the month of Ramzan which means all shops that usually close on Sundays are open for the festival shoppers which in turn means that the second-hand book sellers at Abids shift away to other places. Though not at their usual places they are all present at Abids. As is my habit I was there last Sunday too, and there was a special reason to go early since I had to meet my friend Jai who I had not met for a long time.
The first title I found was a copy of ‘Caste, Society and Politics in India: From the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age’ by Susan Bayly that I got for a hundred rupees. It is another addition to my collection of books on various issues including caste in India. Later when I met Jay for chai he told me Susan Bayly’s title was quite well known in the academic circles. We talked about books, politics, and what books we’ve read since the last time we met.
Later with a seller beside the Irani café I spotted a copy of ‘Borneo, Celebes, Aru’ by Alfred Russel Wallace, Sl No. 12 of Penguin Great Journeys series, and is an extract from ‘The Malay Archipelago’ by Wallace. I have a few titles of this series including ‘Snakes with Wings and Gold-digging Ants’ by Herodotus and ‘The Cobra’s Heart’ by Ryszard Kapuscinski. I got this book for hundred rupees.
Two years back, in 2022, I had found a copy of ‘The Visiting Moon’ by Susan Visvanathan and had also read it soon afterwards. I was not so impressed with it. Last Sunday in a heap of books selling for fifty rupees I found a copy of ‘Something Barely Remembered’ by Susan Visvanathan that I bought since it was also a hardcover copy and I thought it could be better than ‘The Visiting Moon’.
No comments:
Post a Comment