Winter doesn’t seem to have set in Hyderabad though it is now officially the winter season. It was bright and sunny on Sunday as I stepped out of home for the hunt for good titles in the second-hand books market at Abids, and also at Chikkadpally.
As usual I started off by visiting the three booksellers at Chikkadpally. I had seen a title on Buddhism by Gail Omvedt the Sunday before that seemed to have disappeared. I couldn’t find it last Sunday too but instead found an old copy of ‘Short Stories’ by Lev Tolstoy that I got for hundred rupees. There are six stories in it and these are: Two Hussars; Yardstick; A Happy Married Life; The Death of Ivan Ilyich; The Kreutzer Sonata; and After the Ball.
I got into another bus to Koti from where I took another bus to GPO, Abids. With a seller near Hotel Grand I spotted a copy of ‘The Flamingo’s Smile’ by Stephen Jay Gould, a thick Penguin title. I had read about Gould but never read anything by him so I bought this book though I was a bit hesitant to buy the bulky volume of essays. At the same time I did not want to let go of it so I bought it for a hundred and fifty rupees. It has thirty essays on various subjects.
I met my friend Daniel, and we talked about books etc over a cup of chai in the Star of India café. Later while looking at books in a lane I found a copy of ‘The Getaway’ by Jim Thompson, a beautiful and almost brand new copy. Though I felt that I have a copy of the same title and have also read it I did not want to miss buying it for I was getting it for only fifty rupees.
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