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.
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