The Sunday Haul (on 22-09-2024)

 Last Sunday, mercifully it did not rain here in Hyderabad so my trip to Abids was on. But due to some wrong planning on my part and some unexpected delays I could not spend much time at Abids. However, I was able to find the copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers that I had seen the previous week and hadn’t bought. 

 

The copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers had a beautiful white cover and I bought it though I already have a copy at home. But the copy I found at Abids last Sunday was a Penguin edition and smaller in size than the copy I had that was a first Mariner Books 2000 edition with a photograph of the author with the saddest face I have ever seen. 

The Sunday Haul (on 15-09-2024)

 After what seemed like a fortnight of wet weather Hyderabad had some beautiful weather since the past one week. The sun shone brightly last Sunday in Hyderabad brightening up the day and also my mood. Add to it my son agreed to come along with me to Abids. It meant I could get to Abids on a two wheeler earlier than my usual time. So off we went after breakfast and reached Abids only to find some sellers were not at their usual places because some of the shops were opened for the wedding/festival crowd.

I bought only one book and that was a nice copy of ‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler that was a Black Lizard Vintage Crime edition. I already have two copies of this title but did not want to miss this beautiful copy so I bought it for just eighty rupees. 

 

Afterwards we had chai and chota samosa in the Star of India café and sat for a while talking. He hadn’t found anything interesting and I did not want to suggest anything to him because I wanted him to choose his own titles that he wanted to read. 

 

I had seen a beautiful copy of ‘The Crying of Lot 49’ by Thomas Pynchon with the seller right beside Star of India, and later I spotted a nice copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers that I did not buy. I thought maybe I wouldn’t be able to find the time to read Pynchon’s book though I have a copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ that I have already read. If I find them next Sunday I will pick them up because the copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ is too beautiful to miss because of its wonderful cover. 

The Sunday Haul (on 08-09-2024)

 Last week too the wet weather continued though it did not rain on Sunday until after I had bought just one book there. It was a wet and miserable week we in Telangana had with daily rain, and not just rain but heavy downpour all the time. I thought it wouldn’t rain on Sunday last when I stepped out of the house and looked at the clouds in the sky. I took a chance and left for Abids after breakfast. 

Since a couple of months I have begun a new routine as I am traveling by city bus after my accident in November last. So I began first with the sellers at Chikkadpally. With one of the sellers I found a copy of ‘The Sound of Mountain Water’ by Wallace Stegner, a book of essays on the West in the US. I also have his ‘Where the BlueBird Sings to the  Lemonade Springs’  and also ‘Second Growth’  that I had found long back but haven’t yet read. 

 

After that I got to Abids in a longish way, first going to Afzal Gunj and then catching an 8A and getting down near the GPO. First, I had chai and chota samosa in Grand Hotel and then began my hunt. I found a copy of a Telugu book- ‘Viewlu, Reviewlu’ by Sri Sri or Srirangam Srinivas Shastry, the popular leftist writer known for his fiery lyrics. This was a book of his essays and his reviews of Telugu novels and other books. I got it for fifty rupees and felt glad at finding this wonderful book. I had found one of his most famous books, a collection of verse, ‘Mahaprasthanam’ long back. 

 

Then moments later it began to drizzle and it became a steady downpour. I watched as the booksellers hastily covered the books on the pavement with plastic sheets. I knew they would all wind up their business if it continued to rain and so lost heart in going around further. I went to Nampally and got into 20P that would take me home. 

The Sunday Haul That Wasn’t

 Since Friday last week it rained heavily and continuously in Telangana as well as Hyderabad which put life out of gear for everyone. Since no bookseller would want to put out his books on the pavements in such weather at Abids I too dropped the idea of going there on Sunday. It was on Sunday that it rained the heaviest. Somehow I missed going to Abids, looking for books, having chai in the Irani and returning home heart filled with that joy that comes with buying good books.

 However, on last Thursday I had dropped in at ‘Unique’ bookstore in Khairatabad and found a gem there on the shelves. I spotted a copy of ‘Flannery O’ Connor: The Complete Stories’ with an attractive cover that featured a peacock. Though it was priced at three hundred rupees I did not want to miss buying it and regret later since it had thirty one stories including her famous ‘All that Rises Must Converge’ and ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ that I had already read. 

I had found a copy of another collection by Flannery O’ Connor titled ‘All that Rises Must Converge’ sometime recently that had … stories that are also included in ‘Flannery O’ Connor: The Complete Stories’. The list of the thirty-one stories in it is as follows: The Geranium, The Barber, Wildcat, The Crop, The Turkey, The Train, The Peeler, The Heart of the Park, A Stroke of Good Fortune, Enoch and the Gorilla, A Good Man is Hard to Find, A Late Encounter with the Enemy, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, The River, A Circle in the Fire, The Displaced Person, A Temple of the Holy Ghost, The Artificial Nigger, Good Country People, You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead, Greenleaf, A View of the Woods, The Enduring Chill, The Comforts of Home, Every That Rises Must Converge, The Partridge Festival, The Lame Shall Enter First, Why Do the Heathen Rage?, Revelation, Parker’s Back, and Judgement Day.

 

There’s an Introduction by Robert Giroux that throws light on Flannery O' Connor the writer and the person.