The Sunday Haul (on 26-05-2024)

It was another hot day last Sunday in Hyderabad. Though not as hot as it was two weeks earlier it was hot enough to have me wear a cap before I set off for Abids. Since I haven’t yet begun riding my two-wheeler due to the fracture in the collar bone I in November I am taking a ride on Uber or Rapido bikes. So, I got to Abids a little before noon and began to feel at home amidst all the books lying on the pavements. I have no doubt saying that I will come to Abids every Sunday of my remaining life. I can never give up the habit.

 

Anyway, Telugu was third language at school so I can read Telugu quite well. I had bought a couple of Telugu novels in the past, those that were famous, and also finished reading them. Though I want to read other books in Telugu I am not able to since I am a slow reader when it comes to Telugu because I do not know the meanings of many Telugu words. Anyway, last Sunday I spotted a non-fiction title by a famous Telugu activist-writer. It was ‘Manava Samajam: Ninna, Nedu, Repu’ by Ranganayakamma, a hardcover copy of essays, articles, letters by her that I decided to buy and read. In fact, I read one essay while sitting in the Star of India Irani café while having a cup of chai. 

 

Recently I had taken out the copy of ‘The End of Suffering’ by Pankaj Mishra after I read about it in ‘The Groaning Shelf’ by Pradeep Sebastian. But I am yet to begin reading it and plan to read it sometime next week. So, while I am waiting to read it I came across another Pankaj Mishra title- ‘From the Ruins of Empire’ that was a hardcover copy. I had not come across this title so I bought it. 

 

Arun Joshi is my favorite writer and there’s no doubt about it. He’s written half a dozen books, all of them novels except ‘The Survivors’ which is a collection of short stories. I have all his titles: The Foreigner, The Apprentice, The Strange Case of Billy Biswas, The River and the City, and The Last Labyrinth. I have multiple copies of these books and these are the editions published by Orient in the 70’s. I love finding these old editions and last Sunday I found another old edition of ‘The Apprentice’ by Arun Joshi, my second such copy. I bought it for just thirty rupees!

I had also seen a copy of a non-fiction title by Tom Wolfe that was in beautiful condition but I did not buy it as I felt I had bought enough books. I plan to buy it next Sunday if it is still available. 

The Sunday Haul (on 19-05-2024)

Sometime last Friday or so there was heavy rain in Hyderabad and suddenly it became quite cool. It was lovely weather for a few days and last Sunday too it was not very hot as it was cloudy. The nice weather after a month and half of scorching heat put me in a good mood. 

 

My favorite Stephen King title is ‘On Writing’ that I’ve not only read several times but also have bought several copies of. Long back before I found my first copy of ‘On Writing’ I read ‘Cujo’, ‘Carrie’ and also ‘Misery’ after which I did not read his other titles though I intend to. Last Sunday the only book I bought was a nice copy of ‘The Colorado Kid’ by Stephen King that was a Hard Case Crime title. I had seen it the previous Sunday but did not buy it for some reason but when I saw it again last Sunday I decided to buy it and got it for fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 12-05-2024)

 Last Sunday the weather was far better than the days before. It was relatively cool though the sun was out. It wasn’t hot as before but somehow I was not in a good mood since the morning. I wished I could find something good at Abids that would lift my foul mood and it was exactly what happened a few minutes after I reached Abids. 

I spotted a cover with the image of a Mughal prince and when I looked closer it turned out to be a copy of ‘Chasing the Mountain of Light’ by Kevin Rushby. I was elated at the find and my mood improved instantly! I got the book for just fifty rupees and I was actually overjoyed at making such a nice find first thing after reaching Abids. Long back I had found a copy of Kevin Rushby’s ‘Eating the Flowers of Paradise in May 2010. I read it but seemed to have given it away which I regret now. 

 

With the same seller I saw a copy of ‘The Happiness Project’ by Gretchen Rubin with its distinctive blue yellow colour. Though I already have a copy of this title I picked it up because i wanted to give it to a friend. This too I got for only fifty rupees. 

 

Later I sat in Grand and had my usual chota samosa and chai and watched the people inside the joint for sometime before getting up and continuing my hunt at Abids. The next find turned out to be another astonishing one. In a heap of books that are for sale for fifty rupees I saw a copy of ‘Falling Slowly’ by Anita Brookner that I picked up. Anita Brookner is one of my favorite writer but I haven’t yet found a copy of her ‘Hotel du Lac’ that I hope to find someday soon. 

The Sunday Haul (05-05-2024)

 Last Sunday was another hot day and in fact the weather forecast said it was going to be a Heatwave day with the temperature going up to 42 degrees C. I almost dropped my plan of going to Abids since I did not want to get fried, and though I got dressed up to go I hesitated before I finally made the decision to spend not more than an hour and return as soon as possible. 

It was exactly as the forecast said, very hot and uncomfortable. I wore a cap and also carried a bottle of water that was over within minutes. I had chai in the Grand before venturing out to look at the books. 

 

My first find was a beautiful copy of ‘The Great Shark Hunt’ by Hunter S. Thompson, a  Picador title that I got for a hundred rupees. Though I’ve seen his other titles like ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ I have not read any of Thompson’s books so I thought I’d make a beginning with this title. It is a collection of essays and articles that runs into more than six hundred pages. On the cover it says ‘First British Publication’ below the author’s name. 

 

I have this bad habit of giving away books that I liked after reading them and then later thinking it would be not so good I put it in a pile that I want to give away to friends and others. One such title was a copy of ‘The Way of the Peaceful Warrior’ by Dan Millman that I had found at Abids decades ago when I was just starting out on my job in the government. Somehow I gave it away and last Sunday when I came across it at Abids I wanted to read it again and so bought it. 

The Sunday Haul (on 28-04-2024)

Last Saturday I read in the papers that it would be very hot day on Sunday and it was also declared as heatwave day. No wonder then that the temperature last Sunday was 41 degrees C in the afternoon when I was leaving Abids after a couple of hours of browsing and picking up four titles. 

The previous Sunday I had wanted to pick up the copy of ‘Spectacles’ by Sue Perkins, her memoir, that I had seen with a seller opposite the GPO at Abids. However, I couldn’t buy it as I had already bought four books by the time I got to that seller who had ‘Spectacles’. 

so I decided to buy it last Sunday. I went straight to the seller near GPO as soon as I reached Abids and picked up the copy of ‘Spectacles’ by Sue Perkins that I paid eighty rupees for. 

 

My fellow bibliophile friend Jai had come so we sat talking in the Irani over a cup of chai. We talked about books and fountain pens that we both are besotted with. Afterwards I set out and in a heap of fifty rupees books I saw a copy of ‘The Disenchanted’ by Bud Schulberg that I picked up. I vaguely remember reading the name of Bud Schulberg somewhere so bought it hoping it would be worth reading. 

 

I had seen these two books- ‘A Rattling of Old Bones’ by Jonathan Ross and ‘Here Lies Nancy Frail’ by Jonathan Ross the previous Sunday but hesitated to buy them though the covers looked promising. Last Sunday I bought them and paid a hundred rupees for both the crime fiction titles. Since it was getting very hot I skipped the mandatory stop at Chikkadpally and went home before I evaporated in the intense heat.