During the monsoon naturally it rains and so there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But the only day I do not want it to rain is on a Sunday. Luckily for me it didn’t rain last Sunday when I set out for Abids. It was cloudy, though. Since last November when I fractured my right shoulder bone in a minor accident I am travelling by bus and avoiding riding the two-wheeler. Until recently I used to travel on a different route, partly by bus and partly by Uber Moto. Recently I discovered a different route where I could get a bus that would drop me near home. So I changed my Abids routine starting from Chikkadpally instead of the other way around.
Last Sunday I began my browsing first at RTC Crossroads where there is a seller at the junction. Here I found a copy of ‘Woodworm’ by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay with a lovely cover that I got for fifty rupees. Then onwards to Chikkadpally where I saw nothing worth buying.
Later I got dropped at Abids, and after the customary chai at the Irani café I saw a copy of ‘In Transit’ by Mavis Gallant, a collection of short stories by this wonderful Canadian writer. I got this too for fifty rupees only.
Then with another seller near Bata in a heap of books selling for Rs.50 I found a copy of ‘Respected Sir’ by Naguib Mahfouz, the Nobel laureate from Egypt, that I was thrilled to find.
Then in the same heap I found a copy of ‘The Story of a Seaside Village’ by Thoppil Mohammed Meeran that appeared very interesting. Both these books are slim volumes that one can finish reading in a few hours.
The other week I saw an ad by The Hindu Group of Publications about some of their books in The Hindu paper. One of the books was ‘Ashokamitran: Beyond Fiction’ that I ordered because Ashokamitran is one of my favourite writers and I wanted to know what this book was. It was delivered the other day, and I am thrilled to find so many pieces by Ashokamitran that I haven’t read.
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