The Sunday Haul (on 23.06.2024)

 The monsoon rains have begun in this part of the world, though it isn’t raining regularly in Hyderabad. There have been some good rains in the past two weeks but last Sunday when I went to Abids it was sunny, bright and a bit hot. Though I thought I would buy only one book as my shelves are overflowing with lots and lots of books I ended up four books last Sunday at Abids. 

 

I did not find anything before I had the usual cup of chai in the Star of India Irani café. This is one part of my Sunday routine I enjoy a lot, sitting in the café sipping the chai and wondering for how long I will be coming here and picking up books. I’ve been coming to Abids for more than forty years now. Nothing much has changed about the Abids Sunday second hand book market except the faces of the sellers. Some of the old ones are gone and in their places have come their grown up children. With these thoughts I finally got up and stepped out of the café wondering what I will find on the pavements. 

 

I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t know what Hitler did. Though I have read here and there about the genocide I haven’t found anything about how it all happened. So, when I found a copy of ‘The Face of the Third Reich’ by Joachim C. Fest I realized it would fill in some of the details missing in my knowledge. 

 

With the same seller I saw a copy of ‘Together’ by Vivek H. Murthy that I have read about somewhere recently. I think I had read an interview of Vivek H. Murthy the previous Sunday that came in The Hindu. Anyway, I am very interested in what people do, what happens to them in certain situations, how they behave and so on which is the only reason I picked up this very interesting book. I got these two book at hundred rupees each. 

 

Some years ago I had found a nice copy of 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem’ by Joan Didion that I also managed to read soon afterwards. Last Sunday when I came across another copy I did not hesitate to buy it because it is a fantastic book, and the copy I saw had the cover pages encased in a plastic jacket. It was too tempting so I bought it as the seller asked for just fifty rupees for it. 

 

Somehow I have not read a graphic book so far though I picked up a copy of ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi a couple of months back. Earlier some years ago I had come across a copy of ‘Maus’ that I was foolish not to have bought when I saw it. Anyway, last Sunday I saw a copy of ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ by Ransom Riggs. It was a hardcover book that was almost brand new and though I had heard of this title I did not have any idea of what it was about. After a few moments of hesitation I bought it for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (16-06-2024)

 Last Sunday it was another ‘rainless’ day in Hyderabad. It was sunny and bright when I started out for Abids and took a bus instead of a Rapido/Uber bike. There’s something about traveling in a bus on a holiday as everyone seems to be in a relaxed mood and there’s less crowd too. Anyway, I reached Abids around noon and started off on my usual route around the sellers at Abids.I met a friend who lost his mother recently, had chai with him in Star of India and talked. Later I went around to look for good title to pick. 

 

I had heard about ‘Nude Before God’ by Shiv K. Kumar that I thought was a book of poetry. All these years I couldn’t find a copy and last Sunday I spotted a copy in a heap of books being sold for Rs.50. It was a different edition and seemed in good condition. It wasn’t a lengthy book running into just 168 pages, a couple of hours’ read. 

 

In another heap of books of Rs.20 I spotted a really nice copy of ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ by Jean Rhys. I had found a copy with a similar cover years ago but it was all underlined with a pen but I read it somehow. This was a copy I did not want to miss because not only it was in a good condition it was also very cheap at only twenty rupees. So I added it to the Sunday haul. 

‘The Sunday Haul (on 09-06-2024)

It had begun to rain in Hyderabad since the past one week or so driving away the oppressive heat of a terrible summer that never seemed to end. Though I welcome the rains I wish it doesn’t rain on Sundays because that is the day when I go to the second-hand book market in Abids. 

 

Last Sunday it was cloudy though but did not rain. It appeared as if it would rain any moment but somehow there was no rain as long as I was in Abids trying to find something good to take home and read. There’s an elderly person who is a crime fiction fan and tries to tell everyone he meets in Abids to pick this title or that title. I meet him regularly at Abids and sometimes chat for a while. Last Sunday he asked me to pick up ‘The Tightrope Men’ by Desmond Bagley. Though I was not very interested in buying it I took it as it was only fifty rupees and, besides I did not want to disappoint my enthusiastic acquaintance. 

 

Then I went on to Chikkadpally to look at what the sellers there had laid out. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire’ by William Dalrymple that was of a forbidding size. It was a hardcover copy that I got for two hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 02-06-2024)

 It had rained on Friday I think and the temperatures in Hyderabad had come down to tolerable levels. On Sunday it was sunny in the morning when I left for Abids and wore the cap as a precaution. The previous Sunday I had seen a copy of ‘Hooking Up’ by Tom Wolfe with a seller I used to see on the corner of the road leading to Nampally station. I had not seen his books for a long time so I had walked over and seen ‘Hooking Up’ that I did not buy. 

Last Sunday, however, when I reached Abids the seller was nowhere to be seen. I thought it was too early as some of the sellers had yet to set up their books so to pass the time I sat in the Grand Hotel and had a leisurely cup of chai while contemplating what titles I would find later, and also making some idle plans for passing the days after my retirement next February. 

 

Half hour later I was glad to see the seller at his usual place and finding the copy of ‘Hooking Up’ by Tom Wolfe still with him I picked it up. I have his ‘The Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test’ that I found a long time ago but yet to read it. I also come across copies of his ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ and also ‘A Man in Full’ but haven’t bought them. 

 

I had not begun my Abids circuit in the usual manner and had actually begun it the opposite way last Sunday. I went back in the opposite direction and in a lane I found a copy with the title almost invisible on the cover that however was quite attractive. When I picked it up for a closer look I discovered that it was a copy of  ‘A History of Modern Ethiopia’ by Bahru Zewde. Now, Ethiopia is one country in Africa I would love to visit especially after reading about Lalibela in Pico Iyer’s book and also after reading about Haile Selassie in ‘The Emperor of Emperors’ by Ryszard Kapuscinski. I got it for fifty rupees. It is an interesting book about the history of Ethiopia from 1855-1974 written by Bahru Zewde, a historian. I felt very pleased finding this book.

 

A few minutes after I picked up ‘Hooking Up’ I spotted a copy of ‘The India Trilogy’ by VS Naipaul, a massive tome with an attractive cover. It is a trilogy of the three books Naipaul wrote about India: ‘An Area of Darkness’, ‘India: A Wounded Civilization’ ‘India: A Million Mutinies Now’ over a period of a couple of decades. I have copies of all these books but this was a three-in-one volume running into more than thousand pages that I couldn’t resist buying especially since the introduction was by Paul Theroux. I got it for two hundred rupees.