Las week it was Diwali week as preparations for the major festival have begun. The ads in the newspapers and television are screaming discounts to lure buyers. The shoppers have already begun crowding the stores as I noticed at Chikkadpally on the way to Abids. A nice book I had seen the previous Sunday and thought of buying wasn’t there and I was disappointed for not buying it the moment I saw it. I then left for Abids.
At Abids, all the shops were open, and the first of the shoppers were arriving as I went around the streets. Some sellers had to shift from their original places but they were around somewhere. More or less all the sellers were present with their books laid out on the pavements.
I began from the sellers in front of the GPO. The first title I found was a nice copy of
‘Loving’ by Henry Green. Strangely enough, sometime back I had found a copy of ‘Loving, Living; Party Going’ by Henry Green that did not seem to hold my interest when I read a few pages of the first part. So I gave it away and later regretted parting with the book. I did not want to miss this copy of ‘Loving’ by Henry Green so I bought it and got it for a hundred rupees.
With another seller right next I spotted a copy of ‘Testaments Betrayed’ by Milan Kundera, and it said ‘an essay in nine parts’ which made me buy it because I love reading essays though these do not appear to be the kind of essays I like. Anyway, this too I got for a hundred rupees which seems not much to pay for this kind of book.
A long time back, maybe three decades or so I had read the name Eric Sevareid somewhere that I don’t remember now. But the name remained in my memory and so when I saw a copy of ‘Not so Wild a Dream’ by Eric Sevareid I picked it up to see what it was. I hesitated before buying it because it was too long, about 516 pages but then it was in a heap of books being sole for just fifty rupees. It wasn’t a difficult decision. I picked it up rather than regret later for not picking up though it appeared like no one would buy it.
This is one book that I had been waiting to read since long but the copies I saw in bookstores were all hardcover ones so when I found this paperback copy of ‘Em and the Big HOOM’ by Jerry Pinto I picked it up. This I got for eighty rupees only.
