The Book Fair Haul

Only two weeks earlier I had returned from Bengaluru with more than a dozen books and I was not in a mood to buy any more books until the end of the year. Since I had read about the dates of the Hyderabad Book Fair I had been keeping a sort of countdown to the day it would open on the 19^th of December. I told myself I would buy just five or six books during the Book Fair and not more than that but things did not happen that way. I dropped in at the Book Fair almost every day and ended up buying more books than I thought I would buy. 

The 38^th Hyderabad Book Fair began on the 19^th of December and I was there on the first day even before it had been properly inaugurated. On my very first visit on the first day of the book fair I ended up buying eight books.  In one second-hand book stall I found two titles. I found ‘Indian Realities: Bits & Pieces’ by Sham Lal who was editor of Times of India in the past. I had found a hardbound copy of ‘A Hundred Encounters’ long back. ‘Indian Realities’ is a large tome and has hundreds of pieces on persons, books, and also reviews. I got this for two hundred rupees. 

Chinua Achebe happens to be one of my favourite authors and I do not miss buying anthing by him. So when I spotted a copy of ‘There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra’ by Chinua Achebe I grabbed it. This too I got for two hundred rupees. 

In another stall I found a copy of ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King that I already had bought more than a dozen copies of in the past. I simply cannot resist buying this wonderful title whenever I see a copy.

The next find was a copy of ‘The Truth (Almost) About Bharat’ by Kaveri Nambisan who also happens to be another favourite of mine. This copy was a new edition with a beautiful cover and I read inside that the cover was designed by Vijay Nambisan, poet, author, and also her husband. 

I found a copy of ‘The Untold Charminar: Writings on Hyderabad’ by Syeda Imam that I grabbed the instant I saw it. Hyderabad is where I live and I want to read everything about Hyderabad, especially the past. I am still looking for references about the Sunday Abids second-hand book market but haven’t found any so far. 

I already have a copy of ‘The Emperor’ by Ryszard Kapuscinski but I couldn’t stop myself from buying the copy I saw at the book fair. Kapuscinski is a wonderful journalist and I have almost all of his books. I do not remember how much I paid for this book and also for other books. 

Somehow I seem to be finding copies of titles by favourite authors that I already have. I have four copies of ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen at home. But when I saw the cover on the copy I saw at another second-hand book stall I knew I had to buy it whatever the cost. It was one of twelve influential American literary classics Penguin published on the 70^th anniversary of Penguin Classics, calling them Penguin Orange Collection. The pages were deckle edge and I paid four hundred rupees for this copy. 

Along with ‘The Snow Leopard’ was a copy of ‘Essays: Stranger Shores-essays 1986-1999’ by J.M. Coetzee that also I bought for four hundred rupees. I have a collection of his earlier essays titled ‘Inner Workings’ that, incidentally, I found at the 2014 Hyderabad Book Fair. 

Though I felt guilty that I had bought eight titles on the first day of the 38^th Hyderabad Book Fair I went again on the second day. Luckily, I could find only two titles worth buying. The first of these was a copy of ‘The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers’ by Paul Kennedy that is another massive tome running into hundreds of pages. It is in keeping with my new found interest in geopolitics. 

I had seen copies of ‘The Last Post’ by Narendar Pani at Abids and also in second-hand bookstores but somehow did not feel like buying it. However, at the book fair I saw another copy and took a close look at what it was. When I read that it was a novel about a small town newspaper and its editor I decided to buy it right away. 

I skipped going to the book fair on Sunday as I knew there would be huge crowds. I went on the fourth day and picked up a copy of ‘Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg’ ed by James F. Lawrence. I had no idea who Swedenborg was but when I read the names of Borges, Czeslaw Milosz and others on the cover I decided to buy it. 

Another title I see at Abids quite frequently was ‘Close to the Bone’ by Lisa Ray, a memoir about her cancer. I wanted to read it but the price of the hardcover was too high for me so I skipped buying the copies at Abids. The copy of ‘Close to the Bone’ I found at the book fair was a paperback and as it was for a hundred rupees I bought it. 

I went again the next day and found four wonderful titles. In one stall I found a copy of ‘Glittering City’ by Cyprian Ekwensi whose ‘People of the City’ I had found long back in 2017. The sticker on the cover mentioned ‘Rs.100’ but the seller, an Abids bookseller gave it to me for seventy rupees. 

In another stall I found a copy of ‘Inside the Whale and Other Essays’ by George Orwell. It had two of his famous essays: ‘Shooting an Elephant’ and also ‘Politics and the English Language’ among the nine essays in it. Also, it had a wonderful cover which was another reason I gave myself to buy it for two hundred rupees. 

When I saw the copy of ‘Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa’ by Peter Hopkirk I dived and grabbed it before anyone could take it though no one seemed to be even looking at it. Sometime back I had found ‘The Great Game’ a thick tome I am yet to read that did not prevent me from buying ‘Trespassers on the Roof of the World’. I loved the cover on it. 

The best find of the day was a beautiful copy of ‘Africa: A Biography of the Continent’ by John Reader, a Penguin title. I love reading about Africa and this title seemed to be all about Africa so I bought it without a second thought. Again, this copy too had a beautiful cover.

 

On my fifth visit on the sixth day of the Hyderabad Book Fair I looked for a copy of  a Franz Fanon title that I missed buying but I was informed it was sold. I was terribly disappointed with myself for not having picked it up the first time I saw it. Then as if to make up for the disappointment I found another wonderful title on a topic I’ve been reading up on quite seriously. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Sowing the Wind: The Mismanagement of the Middle East 1900-1960’ by John Keay, another hefty volume that seemed to run into hundreds of pages. I was very pleased to find it and more so when I got it for just two hundred rupees. 

The next find was a shrink-wrapped copy of ‘Mirrors’ by Eduardo Galeano, an author I had not expected to find but was keen to read. But this wasn’t a book of his journalism or his novels. I got it for two hundred and fifty rupees. On five visits I had picked up a dozen and half books at the Hyderabad Book Fair spending a couple of thousands of rupees, but all worth it I feel.

Next visit would be on Saturday and I hope that would be my last visit to the Book Fair though it would go on until the 29^th of December. Who knows I might drop in again on the last day?

The Sunday Haul (on 14-12-2025)

 

The previous Sunday was at Bengaluru so missed my weekly trip to the Sunday second-hand book market at Abids here. So it was with a bit of excitement that I started for Abids last Sunday as I would meet my bibliophile friends over chai and also meet a new friend I met online who wanted to check out the books at Abids. 

At Chikkadpally I saw two titles that I already had but wanted to buy anyway. However, they were massive tomes and would cost me a bomb so I decided to check them out next Sunday.

A few minutes later I reached Abids and met the person who was waiting for me. We both set out to browse further since he had already bought about half a dozen books by then. Having bought more than a dozen titles at Bengaluru only a few days earlier I was in no mood to buy any more unless something really exceptional turned up. 

As usual, something really exceptionally turned up shortly afterwards. I spotted a copy of ‘No Country for Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy that had a fantastic cover. I already have a copy of this title that I found in 2012 but this copy was something I had to buy just for the irresistible cover. I turned to the back cover and read that the cover was designed by David Pearson. The title filled the cover in a type of lettering I hadn’t seen before. Though a bit of the cover on the front was torn and some of the pages inside seemed to have a touch of the damage by moisture this Picador edition was otherwise in beautiful condition. I got it for a hundred rupees. 

Then my friend said he wanted to check out the Best Books store which was where we headed for next. I had asked him if he had read anything by Elmore Leonard as I wanted to give him a book as a gift. But there were no Elmore Leonard titles at the store so I settled for a J.M. Coetzee title to give to him. I was surprise when he pulled out a copy of ‘Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River’ by Alice Albinia from the shelves to give to me in turn. I was very pleased to get it and thanked him before he left. 

The Bengaluru Haul (05-08/12/2025)

 

I was in Bengaluru last week and so missed going to Abids but did not miss buying books. I bought more than a dozen books in the bookstores on Church Street during my four day stay there. I had gone to attend the Bengaluru Lit Fest on 6-7 of this month. I reached on Friday and the first thing I did was drop my bags at a hotel, get ready and go to Blossoms first thing. The first book I found was a copy of ‘Penguin special: The Life and Times of Allen Lane’ by Jeremy Lewis that I got for two hundred rupees. By then it was time for lunch that I had at Paakashaala and on the way back dropped in at Select in another lane. Here I did not find anything but asked if they had a copy of a book they had published on one their anniversaries. The owner was kind enough to give it to me for free saying they did not charge for it. I was grateful and just to make things even bought a copy of ‘The Elements of Style’ by Strunk & White. I have almost half a dozen copies of this title. 

Later I dropped in at Book Hive. Here I found a copy of ‘Dusk and Other Stories’ by James Salter, and a few minutes later found a nice copy of ‘Elephant & Other Stories’ by Raymond Carver, another collection of short stories. I felt overjoyed finding these two short story collections by two of my favorite authors. 

After coffee at India Coffee House I moved on to Book Worm. In the Antique and Rare Books store within store I found two titles I had read about long back in the ‘Endpaper’ column of Pradeep Sebastian, India’s foremost bibliophile. I found a beautiful copy of ‘Among the Gently Mad’ by Nicholas Basbanes and also a nice almost new copy of ‘Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World’ by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. They did not come cheap though. I had to pay a lot to get hold of these two titles but I think for a bibliophile like me these two books are worth it. 

Back at the Blossoms again an hour later I was browsing the Indian writing titles on the shelves when I found two title among the titles there. I was surprised how the copies of non-fiction titles found a place in the fiction shelves. One title was a copy of ‘Peace and Its Discontents’ by Edward Said and the other was a nice copy of ‘Covering Islam’ also by Edward Said. I hadn’t expected to find these two titles and so was quite pleased I found them without any effort. 

On Monday, the last day of my stay at Bengaluru I dropped in at Blossoms again, at their second store. Here I found a copy of ‘Inside the Treasure House’ A Time in Tibet’ by Catriona Bass. Though it had ‘Abacus Travel’ on the top of the cover I noticed at the back that it was published by Rupa. Anyway, since I had never heard of this book and since it looked like something I might like I took it. 

I had a long list of authors whose books I was searching for and one of those was Ross Thomas. One of the salesgirls searched for the authors name on the computer and said there was a copy of ‘Briarpatch’ a title missing in my Ross Thomas collection. I was quite pleased to find it and added it to my growing haul. 

Another title I found there was a nice copy of ‘Distant Neighbours’ by Kuldip Nayar, a book about India and Pakistan issues. I had always wanted to read Kuldip Nayar’s books since he is a well-regarded journalist. I had earlier found copies of his ‘Between the Lines’ and also ‘Scoop’ at Abids. 

Then I went to Bookworm again and after a long search for interesting titles I found a copy of ‘A Short History of the Middle East’ by Gordon Kerr, a title to add to my growing collection of books on the Middle East. This was a slim book and looked like I could finish it in a couple of hours’ reading. 

At the Bangalore Lit Fest on the first day I picked up a copy of ‘This Divided Island’ by Samanth Subramanian. I had earlier read his other book ‘Following Fish’ and had liked the way he wrote. Since this title was about the Sri Lankan war I wanted to read it as I had earlier read Anita Pratap’s book on the war in Sri Lanka. 

On one of the visits to Blossoms on Saturday evening I picked up a copy of ‘Money for Old Rope’ Disorderly Compositions’ by Charles Glass that had a blurb by Christopher Hitchens on the cover. The copy appeared almost brand new and also the author, a journalist, seemed to have covered the Middle East I was immediately drawn to it and bought it. 

So, that was a big haul of more than a dozen books at Bengaluru. In another ten days the Hyderabad Book Fair will open and I do not know how many books I will find there. 2025 is going to be a year of record haul of books. 

The Sunday Haul (on 30-11-2025)

 

Every time I firmly resolve not to buy more than one title at the Sunday Abids second-hand book market I end up finding more than half a dozen titles that I absolutely cannot resist buying. It happened last Sunday when I found six good titles that I decided to bring home and add to the hundreds of books lying around. Also, among my four friends who are also avid book lovers I was the one who bought the most books last Sunday.

The first title I found was a copy of ‘Literary Taste’ by Arnold Bennett that was a slim, small book that seemed to be all about how to form literary taste. I bought it since I do not seem to have any kind of literary taste as I pick up whatever appears good to me. 

Then I almost hopped around with joy when I spotted a copy of ‘The Friends of Eddie Coyle’ by George V. Higgins. Though I already have two copies of the same title with the same cover I bought this copy, my third since I could not bear to leave it behind. I got it for just fifty rupees. 

Then with the same seller I found a copy of ‘Mad Dogs and Diplomats’ by P.L. Bhandari since it looked interesting. The author is a retired diplomat and the book seemed to be about some interesting experiences of his various diplomatic postings. I have to look for another title of his that I think I had found a long time back but now cannot remember the title. 

Then another stroke of luck when I found a copy of ‘My Son’s Father’ by Dom Moraes, his memoir of his father. It was an older edition by Bell Books and this copy too I couldn’t resist buying though I already have a Penguin edition of the same title. 

On the way back I spotted a beautiful copy of ‘Men in White’ by Mukul Kesavan, one of the writers whose columns I find to be extremely well informed and perceptive. As the title says it is a book of cricket, a game that I am not at all interested in. But I know Mukul Kesavan writes well so I bought it to read his prose. 

The last find was a beautiful hardcover copy of ‘Mantras of Change: Reporting India in a Time of Flux’ by Daniel Lak, the BBC correspondent. It is a book of the events he covered when he was in India. An interesting thing happened when I was contemplating buying it. One of my friends asked me how much I thought I would pay for it. I said a hundred rupees. He took the book from hand and said he would get it for fifty rupees and went to the seller. After a while he returned and said the seller wouldn’t give it for less than hundred rupees and so I was right in my estimate of the book’s price. I modestly claim this correct guess about the price came with experience of more than thirty five years buying books at Abids. 

The Sunday Haul (on 23-11-2025)

 Last Sunday at Abids I picked up a title a copy of which I had bought long back and that I had bought for just ten rupees or so I think. I do not remember buying it so I picked up the second copy. Only after I got home and checked my notebook did I realized that I had bought the copy of ‘Out of Africa’ by Isak Denisen/Karen Blixen in July 2007 for only five rupees! I do not know where that copy is now and also do not remember if I had read it or not.

Another find was a title I had seen a couple of months ago but had not felt like buying it. But when I saw it again last Sunday I picked up the copy of ‘Storylines; Conversations with Women Writers’ and got it for a hundred rupees. It is edited by Ammu Joseph, Vasanth Kannabiran, Ritu Menon, Gouri Salvi, and Volga. 

There are lengthy interviews with seventeen well-known writers of various languages and I could recognize only a few of them like Nayantara Sahgal, Bama, Volga, Vasireddy Seeta Devi, Mridula Garg though I haven’t read books by few of them, and some like Pradnya Lokhande, Sarup Dhruv and so on I had no idea about their books. The book sounds very interesting and I plan to read one interview a day so that I can better understand these writers and their work. 

The Sunday Haul (on 16-11-2025)

 It is now full winter weather here in Hyderabad with a chill in the early hours and bright sun in the day, weather that everyone in Hyderabad loves. Last Sunday too it was bright and sunny as I started for Abids by bus. I had breakfast outside somewhere near RTC X Roads and then walked down to Chikkadpally where I had seen an interesting title the previous Sunday. I wanted to pick it up if it was still there on the pavement. Luckily the copy of ‘The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination’ by Daniel J. Boorstin was at the same place and I picked it up for two hundred rupees. It is another bulky book of more than eight hundred pages. I do not know when I will find the time to read it. 

Some of the titles in my non-fiction collection are books about countries like Russia, China, South Africa, Japan because I love to read about countries that are interesting. I do not have many books about Pakistan except for a couple I found recently. Last Sunday I found another title- ‘Can Pakistan Survive?’ by Tariq Ali that I spotted in a heap selling for Rs.50. I remember Tariq Ali’s name that I had read long back and since it seemed well written I picked up this title. 

The Sunday Haul (on 09-11-2025)

 It was once again a beautiful day last Sunday in Hyderabad. It was bright and sunny in the morning when I set out for Abids a bit apprehensive about how many books I would be bringing home from Abids. Luckily, I managed to find only one title and that too a book I already have a copy of and that I have read a long time back. 

I had found nothing interesting in the couple of hours I was at Abids and was about to leave when I spotted the copy of ‘Wild Mind’ by Natalie Goldberg with a seller. It was the bright red cover that caught my eye and I picked it up. The cover was a bit loose but otherwise it was in good shape. I bought it just for the cover as the copy I had found earlier had a different cover. I got this copy with the red cover for only fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 02-11-2025)

It was a beautiful morning last Sunday in Hyderabad with a clear sky and bright sunlight. En route to Abids I stopped at Chikkadpally to look at the books that a couple of sellers at Chikkadpally had laid out. I saw a copy of ‘Tales of Old and New Madras’ by S. Muthaiah. I had read somewhere that S. Muthaiah was a much respected historian of Madras/Chennai, and I had also read a few essays by him on Madras somewhere. I picked it up for hundred rupees. 

The second title I found was a copy of ‘The Stone of Heaven’ by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott Clark with an interesting cover that caught my eye. It was a travel book and about jade in China. I got this title too for a hundred rupees. I want to begin reading this book soon. 

Just before I left Chikkadpally I spotted a nice copy of ‘Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography’ by Karl Popper. I had read about Karl Popper earlier, and since it was an autobiography, an interesting genre,  I decided to buy it. I got this book too for hundred rupees. 

The next find was with another seller and it was a copy of a title I already have. I picked up the copy of ‘On Literature’ by Umberto Eco that I did not want to leave behind so in it went into my haul of Sunday.

Then at Abids I met two people who follow me on Twitter/X and wanted to meet me. We talked for a long time in Star of India café about books and later went around looking at the books laid out on the pavement. Near the GPO with one of the sellers I spotted a book with an irresistible cover. It was a copy of ‘Plutarch’s Lives- Vol I The Dryden Translation’ that I thought the seller would ask me for four hundred rupees or more. I was a bit shocked when he gave it to me for a hundred and fifty rupees. It appeared similar to Herodotus’s ‘Histories’ that I have but haven’t yet read. I have already begun reading ‘Plutarch’s Lives’ and found it interesting enough to continue reading it until the end. 

Today read in the news that the long-awaited event, the Hyderabad Book Fair will be held from 19-29 December, a little over a month away. But my countdown has already started. 

The Sunday Haul (on 26.10.2025)

It was another bright and sunny morning on Sunday morning in Hyderabad as I started for Abids and stopped at Chikkadpally enroute. There are four sellers at X Roads and also Chikkadpally with limited stock but sometimes they have wonderful titles. Every Sunday I find something or the other that interests me. Last Sunday I found a wonderful set of books on history. I found two volumes of ‘The History of Europe Vol I’ by H.A.L. Fischer & ‘The History of Europe Vol II’ by H.A.L. Fisher that were quite voluminous but looked very interesting. I got t hem for a hundred rupees each.

I remember reading about John Ruskin somewhere recently and so when I saw a copy of ‘Unto This Last and Other Writings’ by John Ruskin I picked it up to check out what it was all about. It was a ‘Penguin Classics’ a sign that it is a good book so I did not read further and bought it. I got this book too for a hundred rupees.

Then at Abids I sat in Star of India café with two friends and we talked about a lot of things including, of course, books. I told them about ‘The Summing Up’ by Somerset Maugham and also about ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King, two of my favorite books. Then we set out to look around and I spotted a copy of ‘The Writing Life’ by Annie Dillard that made my pulse race as I took it out. I had read about this book a long time back and I wanted to read it since I have a copy of her ‘Living with Fiction’ that I had found years ago. I was thrilled when the seller asked for only fifty rupees for it.

The Sunday Haul (on 19-10-2025)

 It turned out to be a bright and sunny day in Hyderabad last Sunday. I was in a good mood when I set out for Abids and returned in an even better mood because I made a fantastic haul of four second-hand titles from the pavements. Once again last Sunday’s haul proved that I am very lucky when it comes to finding good titles.

As usual my first stop was at Chikkadpally where four people sell second-hand titles on the pavements of the road leading towards RTC X roads where there is another seller at a corner. I’ve found many good titles with these sellers so I always make it a point to check out these places before I head for Abids.

My first find was a book that had a cover that stood out. It was a copy of ‘In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story’ by Ghada Karmi with the photograph of a young girl standing before someone, her father perhaps. Only his hand on the girls shoulder is visible. The yellow background is striking and it was this that caught my eye. It appeared brand new and I knew I had to buy it not because it was about Palestine but also because of the blurb by Karen Armstrong right on the cover. I want to read it along with all the books on Palestine I have collected so far.

Just as I got to Abids I got a call from a friend that he was waiting along with three other friends in Star of India so I hurried towards it. On the way my eyes fell on a cover with the title ‘Poovan Banana and Other Stories’ by Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer that I picked up. A long time back I had found the same title though an older edition, and recently had found another collection of Basheer’s stories. I could not resist buying since finding such titles is next to impossible. I got this almost new book for just fifty rupees. The sixteen stories in it are translated from the Malayalam into English by V. Abdulla.

Somehow last Sunday’s talk with my newly made friends, all of them book lovers, was most stimulating as we discussed the books we had bought till then. I showed them Basheer’s book and then Anil, a small indie publisher of classic novels translated into Telugu told me he loved Basheer and asked me to give him the next copy of ‘Poovan Banana’ if I happened to find one. Almost an hour later we dispersed feeling that we could have continued the discussion for hours if we did not have to go home to our families.

Sometime back I had come across a book by Athol Fugard and it turned out to be a book of his plays. I was not aware that he had written a novel so when I saw a copy of ‘Tsotsi’ by Athol Fugard with a seller I almost did not buy it. Out of curiosity I checked it out and saw that it was a novel. I bought it for a hundred and fifty rupees which is on a higher side but I think it is worth it.

Again a long time back I had read in a book on writing about ‘The Spooky Art: Thoughts on Writing’ by Norman Mailer but did not expect to find it anywhere. So I was surprised when I spotted a copy on a wooden shelf of a seller and grabbed it the instant I saw it. This book too came at a steep price of a hundred and fifty rupees but I guess it is totally worth it.

The Sunday Haul (on 12-10-2025)

 Coming back to Hyderabad after a two-day outstation trip felt different as if seeing the city anew. It was a bright and sunny morning last Sunday at Hyderabad when I left home to go to the Abids second-hand book market. I saw a nice copy of ‘If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller’ by Italo Calvino but I did not buy it as I had bought one only a couple of Sundays back. Also the title I had seen the previous Sunday about hunting tigers and wildlife was gone! I regretted not buying it then.

I got a call from a friend that other friends were waiting for me at Star of Indian café. So I hurried there first and had a long talk with them about books and publishing. One of the friends I made recently was a publisher of books in Telugu who showed me the two titles he would be going for printing in a couple of days. Another new friend was a scriptwriter in the Telugu film industry and was quite enthusiastic about reading. He showed me the more than half a dozen titles of Telugu novels he had picked up. Another new friend I met last Sunday was a young Telugu writer who had already published a book. It made me a bit envious of all the things they were doing whereas I was struggling with my second book since more than four years. I wonder when I will be able to finish it, and also hope that this book won’t take two decades to finish like my first book.

After nearly an hour’s talk I set out to look for titles to buy. I saw a copy of ‘The Prabhakaran Saga: The Rise and Fall of an Eelam Warrior’ by S. Murari with a beautiful cover that I immediately bought. I have been following the civil war in Sri Lanka since a long time and I thought this book would fill some gaps in my knowledge and understanding of the issue. S. Murari, the author, is a journalist who has covered the conflict in Sri Lanka.

A long time ago I had found a copy of ‘Republican Party Reptile’ by P.J. O’ Rourke that I enjoyed reading because he is a writer of some good humour. So when I saw a copy of ‘Holidays in Hell’ by P.J. O’ Rourke I decided to buy it though I had seen copies of it earlier too but somehow did not feel like buying. I got it for fifty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 05-10-2025)

 

Somewhere I have jotted down a list of authors whose books I have not been able to find anywhere. It included Clarice Lispector, Jon Fosse, and also Halldor Laxness. Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a title that filled me with the kind of joy that I had not felt since a long time. I found a copy of Halldor Laxness’ ‘Independent People’ on the pavement amidst a few books strewn around. I couldn’t believe it at first but when I took out the book I realized it was indeed a Halldor Laxness title. It was a brand new copy and I wondered how it got there. I paid only a hundred rupees for it.

Actually I thought the Abids trip wouldn’t come out as it started to rain very heavily early in the morning and continued. I had almost given up the idea of going to Abids but miraculously the rain stopped around ten in the morning. I then set out after breakfast and took the bus to Chikkadpally where I couldn’t find anything though I had seen a title I thought I would buy the following Sunday.

But before I found the Halldor Laxness title I found another wonderful title, a travel title, a genre I love to read. This title was like a buffet meal with thirty-five essays by well-known travel writers, and the book I found was a hardcover copy of ‘The Penguin Book of Indian Journeys’ edited by Dom Moraes. Most of the essays in this collection are by travel writers whose books I have already found and also read. Some of them include Anita Nair, Alexander Frater (Chasing the Monsoon), James Cameron (Indian Summer), P. Sainath (Everybody Loves a Good Drought), Paul Theroux, V.S. Naipaul, Anees Jung and a few writers I did not know before I found this collection. I have no idea about Joe Roberts, Dawood Ali McCalum, and also Jonah Blank. Somehow there were notable omissions like Pankaj Mishra (Butter Chicken in Ludhiana), Pico Iyer, Dervla Murphy, and also Elizabeth Bumillier (May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons). I don’t know if these writers had published their books after 2001 when ‘The Penguin Book of Indian Journeys’ was published.

The book had looked familiar when I first spotted it and though I had a feeling that I have a copy of this book I bought it. Later when I sorted through my books at another place where I keep my books, I saw a copy of ‘The Penguin Book of Indian Journeys’ that I do not remember when and where I had bought it. But this copy was in a better condition than the one I bought last Sunday.

The Sunday Haul (on 28-09-2025)

 

It had been raining incessantly in Hyderabad all of last week and it looked like it would rain on Sunday also. But miraculously it did not rain though the sky was cloudy almost all day. As usual I started out after breakfast and first stop was at Chikkadpally. I saw a nice copy of ‘If On a Winter’s Night A Traveller’ by Italo Calvino but I did not buy it as I had a copy at home. Disappointed with the fare at Chikkadpally I went to Abids. 

It is the festival season with Dasara only a few days away when the regular shops are open on Sunday also which meant that some of the second-hand booksellers were not at their usual spots. That and the fact that there was the possibility of rain also kept some more sellers away from Abids. However, there were a few sellers like those in front of GPO and those in the lanes. With one of the sellers before GPO I found a copy of ‘Difficult Loves and Other Stories’ by Italo Calvino that I had seen the previous Sunday but had not bought. I got this collection of four stories for a hundred rupees. I read on the back cover that the collection includes three of his best-known stories- ‘Smog’, ‘A Plunge into Real Estate’, and ‘The Argentine Ant’ that is described as ‘most terrifying and memorable of all’. I have to read these stories one by one soon.

The next find also happened to be a collection of short stories. I spotted a copy of ‘Short Stories by New Zealanders’ edited by Phoebe C. Meikle, that looked like a text book because it had notes and questions. There were stories by Frank Sargeson, Dan Davin, A.P. Gaskell, and Maurice Duggan, all writers of the past. I got it for fifty rupees only. 

The Sunday Haul (on 21-09-2025)

Just recovering from a severe sinus infection and feeling rather weak I had decided to skip Abids and rest at home but I changed my plans after Hari called to say he was coming to Abids. It was a bright and sunny morning last Sunday in Hyderabad, and the forecast for the next week was that it would rain during the weekend from 25^th due to a Deep Depression since it looked likely that it would rain the coming Sunday also. So I decided to make hay while the sun shines and started off by skipping the sellers at Chikkadpally and heading straight to Abids where my friend was waiting. 

On the way to meet him I saw a copy of a book with such an attractive cover that I instantly picked it up. It was a beautiful copy of ‘Ancient Tales & Folklore of China’ by Edward T.C. Werner, a subject that I am very interested in so I bought it right away. I got it for a hundred rupees. 

The next find was a copy of ‘When We Were Orphans’ by Kazuo Ishiguro with a small portion of the cover and the pages below torn off but that did not deter me from buying it. It was a faber & faber first edition, and I had also not read this Ishiguro novel so in it went into the haul. 

Later I sat with Hari in the Bench café in one of the side lanes and talked over omelette, bun maska, and ginger chai for a long time.  

The Sunday Haul (on 14-09-2025)

 

It was quite a surprise that it did not rain almost all day last Sunday as there was a forecast of heavy rain for a couple of days, and also since it had rained quite heavily the day before, on Saturday evening. I was pleased that the weather gods were kind as I set out for Abids. As usual I stopped at Chikkadpally and found three good titles. 

The first find of the day was a nice copy of ‘Japan: The Story of a Nation’ by Edwin O. Reischauer with an attractive golden yellow cover with a painting of flowers. The size was also different as it was narrower than the usual sizes that books come in. 

With another seller down the road I found two wonderful titles I did not expect to find. Sometime back I had found a copy of ‘In Search of Lost Time Volume I: Swann’s Way’ and realized that it would be impossible to find the other volumes. But miracles happen and last Sunday I found copies of Volumes I and II of ‘In Search of Lost Time’ by Marcel Proust- ‘In Search of Lost Time Volume II: Within a Budding Grove’ and ‘In Search of Lost Time Volume III: The Guermantes Way’. I was delighted that I found these wonderful titles and at the same time felt alarmed that put together they run into hundreds of pages that I would never find the time to read unless I put aside everything and read these. 

Another title I picked up was a copy of ‘Looking for Maya’ by Atima Srivastava that had an attractive cover, and also because I felt I had read the author’s name somewhere long time back. I picked up as it was a Penguin title. This book was a British Library discardd.dI got it for fifty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 07-09-2025)

 

Last Sunday it was the day after the Ganesh procession, and the trucks with long trailers that had carried the idols for immersion were returning with the revellers playing loud music. Then there was all the trash, and stuff left in the aftermath of the procession. As I expected all the sellers hadn’t turned out so I could get over my browsing in under an hour.

But before I got to Abids I made the usual stop at the sellers in Chikkadpally. I was drawn to an attractive cover on a book with the title ‘The Cousins’ by Prema Raghunath on it. I hadn’t heard of the title and also the author seemed unknown but I bought the book anyway after I noticed that it was published by Zubaan. 

The next find was at another seller in Chikkadpally who had many good titles that I was tempted to buy but instead ended up buying a copy of ‘Penguin Island’ by Anatole France. I had only read about Anatole France but this was the first book by him that I found. 

At Abids where I reached about half hour later, I found a copy of ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Love’ by Raymond Carver. It was in a heap of Rs.50 books, and I hesitated for a few moments because I already had a copy of it. But in the end, I picked it up. 

The last title in Sunday’s haul wasn’t something I picked up off the pavement. A couple of weeks ago I had met Anil Battula, a bibliophile who is so passionate about books and literature that he is said to have a vast collection of Telugu books, some going back to the 1930s or earlier than that. Last Sunday, I met him again and while talking with him over chai at the Star of India café in Abids along with another bibliophile he showed me a copy of a classic titled that he had got translated into Telugu and published it. It was a copy of ‘Cycle Donga’ originally ‘Bicycle Thief’ by Cesare Zavattini (?) that was made into a movie by Vittorio de Sica, and that became a classic.  It had a beautiful cover and I took it from him. I don’t know much Telugu so I do not know when I will finally get around to reading it. 

The Sunday Haul (on 31-08-2025)

 

It was cloudy last Sunday in Hyderabad though it didn’t rain while I was in Abids until afternoon. Once again, I had a haul of seven books though I had planned to buy just one or two books. 

The first find was a title that first felt like it was a collection of stories for children but ‘Monkey Times and Other Stories’ by Thangam is a collection of real-life experiences, interesting ones, of Thangam, who had written down these in a notebook. I was surprised to read that she had lived in Hyderabad when the book was published in 2003, when she was eighty years old. I got this hardcover title for only thirty rupees.

I had someone, a follower on X, with me so while I showed her a book she might be interested in, I noticed a title I was interested in. It was a copy of ‘Ranjit Singh: Maharaja of the Punjab’ by Khushwant Singh that had a very attractive cover with the portrait of Ranjit Singh. It is a biography that I hope to read sometime soon. 

The next find was another hardcover title- ‘Hyderabad Hazir Hai’ by Vanaja Banagiri, a collection of essays on various aspects of Hyderabad by some notable Hyderabadis like Narendra Luther, Vijay Marur, Mohammad Ali Baig, G. Rajaraman and others with their essays on various aspects of Hyderabad such as its cuisine, art, and even real estate! But the essay I liked most was ‘All Things Hyderabadi’ by Vanaja Banagiri, the editor of the collection, because she covered everything in it- the history, the lingo, clothing, religion, hospitality, architecture etc. 

In a Rs. 50 lot I spotted a copy of ‘Travelling In, Travelling Out’ by Namita Gokhale, a collection of travel essays by Aakar Patel, Jerry Pinto, Navtej Sarna, Urvashi Butalia, and others about their travels. 

Sometime last week I had received a copy of ‘Bombay- A Private View’ by Vinod Mehta that he seemed to have self-published when he was very young. There is a photograph of him on the back cover, complete with long hair and dark glasses. Last Sunday when I saw a nice copy of ‘Lucknow Boy’ by Vinod Mehta, his memoir of his days as a journalist and editor of ‘Outlook’ I picked it up though I already have a copy that I read long time back.

This was one title that has been eluding me since a long time, ever since I read about it. The seller called me and asked me to look in a bag he had. It was filled with some good titles including ‘Churchill’s Secret War’ by Madhusree Mukerjee, one of the two titles I picked out of the bag. I have a copy of ‘The Land of the Naked People’ by the same author that I had first read, only half of it, when I was in Port Blair sometime in 2006. A friend had given it to me and I had to give it back to him after reading only half the book as he was leaving Port Blair. 

The other title that I took out of the bag was a nice copy of ‘An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan’ by Jason Eliot. As the title says it is a travel book. I already have another title by Jason Eliot that I had bought sometime back. I have yet to read it. 

The Sunday Haul (on 24-08-2025)

 The weather was beautiful in Hyderabad last Sunday with clear skies and bright sunshine when I set out a little early for Abids. As usual I stopped at Chikkadpally to check out the few sellers there. I had been seeing a hardcover copy of ‘In An Antique Land’ by Amitav Ghosh since more than a month that I hesitated to ask the seller about its price. I had thought he would ask me more than two hundred rupees but when he said ‘only eighty rupees’ I grabbed it.

At the last seller at Chikkadpally I saw a beautiful, almost new copy of ‘Orientalism: Western Concepts of the Orient’ by Edward W. Said, a title I already own. But this copy was too good to resist and also people ask me for copies of such titles so I bought it paying only hundred rupees for it. 

The first title I saw when I reached Abids was again another one I owned three copies of. I saw a beautiful copy of ‘The Old Patagonian Express’ by Paul Theroux, in a heap selling for fifty rupees only. Theroux is one of my favorite writers and I cannot resist buying all his travel titles so I bought this copy too for just fifty rupees. 

Afterwards I sat in the Star of India with a few new friends I had made at Abids thanks to another friend, Srinivas who is a regular at Abids. We talked for about an hour about Telugu literature and the titles they had bought at Abids just before we met. I can read Telugu but I take a long time to read in Telugu so I really don’t know if I should pick up one slim title. 

We all walked down to the Best Books store down the road and looked at the books outside the store on the pavement. There were books that were for sale at Rs. 100 for three titles. I spotted a copy of ‘Pilgrim’s Road’ by Bettina Selby, a name I had heard recently or one that I must have jotted down in one of my old notebooks. It was a travel title and there’s no way I am letting go of travel titles so I wanted to buy it. But I had to buy two more titles to go along with it. I found a copy of ‘Walking Erect with an Unfaltering Gaze: Myself when Young’ by Ambai, the Tamil writer. I was glad to have found it to be sort of autobiographical with the book being about her life until she is twenty-three years old. It is published by National Book Trust and probably aimed at young readers. But I was delighted to find it so added it and then looked for one more title to complete three titles.  

Again, I found another title that I already own- ‘Learning to Swim and Other Stories’ by Graham Swift, a slim collection of short stories. There are eleven stories in this collection, and when I read one of the stories, I realized that I hadn’t read the copy I had found long back.  

The best find of the day was a few minutes before I left. We were dispersing and they were taking leave of me when I was in a lane looking at the books a seller had when my eyes fell on a small book that looked out of place. I saw that it was a copy of ‘Defeat for Death’ by K.A. Abbas, and on the cover was the price Rs.2! I looked inside and saw that it was published in 1944 and realized that it could be a rare book and bought it for just thirty rupees.