Two Sunday Hauls

 The Sunday Haul (on 28-12-2025)

The last Sunday haul at Abids was a nice copy of a book that wasn’t on the pavement at Abids. As a regular at Abids some sellers call me and ask me if I want to see some books they have. Usually, they have these books in a bag or a carton which they show to only a few select buyers. So last Sunday one seller called me and showed a carton full of books that he took out one by one. A book with a beautiful cover caught my eye and I asked him to take it out. 

It was a copy of ‘The Novel To-day’ by Anthony Burgess that was a slim book. The ‘Today’ in the title was spelt ‘To-day’ that seemed different. I got it for a hundred rupees. I bought it not to disappoint the seller though I had told myself I wouldn’t buy any at Abids last Sunday.

The Sunday Haul (on 04-01-2026)

Despite my decision not to buy anything at Abids on the first Sunday of the New Year I ended up buying two titles.

The first title was one that I saw with a seller at Chikkadpally and there was no way I could avoid buying it since it was a book I had been looking for. I picked up the copy of ‘Hyderabad: A Biography’ by Narendra Luther the moment I spotted it. Coincidentally, this was the third title about Hyderabad that I had found in the past few weeks. I got it for a hundred and fifty rupees.

Then later at Abids once again I saw a book that I could not stop myself from buying though I already had a copy of it. I saw a beautiful copy of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ by James M. Cain, a crime classic. The copy I had found years ago was a very early edition with a cover that was torn. This was a different edition and was in a beautiful condition. The fun part was that I got it for only twenty rupees since the seller thought it couldn’t be more than that given it was a slim book.