The Sunday Haul (on 21-07-2024)

 It’s been raining on and off since a couple of days last week and on Saturday it rained all day in Hyderabad. On Sunday luckily it stopped raining in the morning but the clouds in the sky appeared as if they would bring rain any time. After some hesitation whether to go to Abids or not I set out thinking I would return it if it started raining. 

 

Unlike every Sunday when I check out the sellers at Chikkadpally on the way home last Sunday I began by dropping in at Chikkadpally on the way to Abids. I had seen a book on Telugu proverbs that I did not buy the previous Sunday and now wanted to buy it. Unfortunately, the seller informed that it was bought by someone the previous Sunday itself. I was disappointed but when I saw a nice copy of ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat’ by Oliver Sacks my moods improved and I picked up this title that I had been meaning to read. I had found Oliver Sacks’ ‘Musicophilia’ a long time ago on a visit to Delhi and wanted to read more of his books. 

Then I headed for Abids where I found very few sellers as they seemed to have decided not to put their books fearing it would rain. However, I managed to find a copy of ‘Jaffna Street’ by Mir Khalid that I bought for eighty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 14-07-2024)

 

t was cloudy in the morning when I set out for Abids last Sunday. Since it looked like it might rain any time I carried an umbrella, a small Popy brand that I had bought at Ooty on my last visit there. It had been a long time since I had visited the second hand goods market that comes between Madina and Charminar on Sunday morning so I planned to go there before going to Abids. Years ago I had found a beautiful Brahmam fountain pen with a seller that wrote so well that I felt very lucky to have found it. Unfortunately someone stole it at my office in the Secretariat where I was posted at that time. I thought maybe I might get lucky and find a similar pen. I did not find one like it but I found a nice-looking black fountain pen that had ‘Louis Marx’ on the steel rim on the cap. I have never heard of the brand and there wasn’t any information about it online. I got it for two hundred and fifty rupees.

 

Then I hopped into a city bus and reached Abids. I found a copy of ‘Grandmother’s Tale’ by RK Narayan that seemed to be a first edition published in 1972 by RK Narayan’s own publishing house- Indian Thought Publications. It was a paperback copy in good condition though the previous owner had written on the inside page not only his name and also his postal address but also the date when he bought it.  The only detail he seems to have forgotten was to write down his phone number. I got it for fifty rupees.

 

Just before going in for the mandatory chai at Star of India café I checked out the titles with the seller beside the café. I found a nice copy of ‘Stein on Writing’ by Sol Stein that I got for hundred rupees. I already have a copy of it but since I cannot resist any title about writing I picked it up. I met my friend Danny who was also browsing at the same place and later we sat down and had a chat over chai.

 

At Chikkadpally I found a copy of ‘The World of Psmith’ by PG Wodehouse that was an omnibus edition of the three Psmith titles- ‘Psmith in the City’, ‘Psmith Journalist’, and ‘Leave it to Psmith’ that I want to read again since it had been almost decades that I had read them last. Surprisingly the seller gave it to me for just hundred rupees though I was expecting him to ask for nothing less than two hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 07-07-2024)

 Once again it did not rain in Hyderabad last Sunday. I felt it as a sign that I should go to Abids to look for books in the Sunday second-hand book market. As usual I reached there around noon and immediately began my usual browsing right from the moment I got to Abids. I always leave home for Abids on Sunday morning hoping I would return home with just one nice title but that never happens since I always find more than a couple of titles that I just cannot stop myself from buying. Last week it happened again when I picked up two good titles. 

 

The first title I found was a book that seemed brand new and with a bright colorful cover. It was a copy of ‘Sugar Money’ by Jane Harris. I bought it because of the wonderful cover and also because it was published by Faber & Faber. To be honest I don’t think I will read it until I find it quite interesting when I plan to read some of the pages randomly. Incidentally, I saw another copy of the same title with another seller later.

 

Joseph Heller happens to be one of my favorite writers after reading his classic- ‘Catch-22’ a long time ago. I also read some of his other books like ‘No Laughing Matter’ and also “Something Happened’ that I did not find so interesting. I thought these were the only books he wrote so I was surprised when I saw a copy of ‘Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man’ by Joseph Heller at Abids last Sunday.  This is a novel and I got it for only forty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 30-06-2024)

 It had rained quite heavily some days last week and though there was no forecast of rains on Sunday morning in Hyderabad it looked like it would rain looking at the dark clouds, but it didn’t, luckily for me. I took the city bus to reach Abids which is the best way to see the city, the people on the streets, and feel glad that I live in a city where you can buy books cheap from the pavements on a Sunday. I got down near the LB Stadium and walked down to the Blue Sea café to have chai and chota samosa. After that refreshing chai I walked down to the Abids lanes where all the books were waiting.

 

The first title I found was a book I had seen earlier but hadn’t seen again for a long time. Last Sunday I spotted a copy of ‘The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order’ by Samuel P. Huntington. Of late I have become very interested in world politics and what’s happening in the world, especially theories about the developments. This book looked like it would give me a perspective and since I had also read about this book in other books I bought it. I paid eighty rupees for it. 

 

The next find was something similar to what I had picked up earlier. I like John Pilger’s journalism and have been lucky to find a copy of ‘A Secret Country’ in Bengaluru last year. I also found a copy of ‘Distant Voices’.  I wanted to read all his books but I don’t often find them in Abids or the second hand book stores in Hyderabad. However, last Sunday when I saw a copy of ‘The New Rulers of the World’ by John Pilger I was excited. I got it for a hundred and fifty rupees.

 

In a heap of books being sold for fifty rupees each I found a copy of ‘A Start in Life’ by Anita Brookner whose ‘Hotel du Lac’ I’ve been trying to find since a long time. I don’t know when I will find it but finding ‘A Start in Life’ gave me hope that one day soon I will find ‘Hotel du Lac’ at Abids. I hope the day comes soon. 

 

Just the other Sunday last month I had found a nice copy of ‘The Apprentice’ by Arun Joshi, my favorite writer. It was one of the old editions and I was glad I found it though I already have a few copies of the same title. I also have a couple of copies of ‘The Strange Case of Billy Biswas’ by Arun Joshi but when I saw another copy that looked like it belonged to some kind of circulating library looking at the way it was bound. I got it for fifty rupees.