Last Sunday once again it wasn't as hot as it was a couple of Sundays ago. But it was a bit uncomfortably warm and also too bright so a cap was necessary. With cap on hand a mask covering the nose and mouth I set off for Abids. I stopped at Chikkadpally where I scored my first hit.
Of late I have been collecting travel titles by Indian writers, and over the years have managed to find an impressive collection including titles by Bishwanath Ghosh, Dilip D'Souza, Pankaj Mishra and others. Last Sunday I found a title that I was looking for. I spotted a nice and almost new copy of 'Have Pen Will Travel' by MJ Akbar that I got for a hundred rupees.
There are certain titles I wish to find but thought I would never find at Abids. One such book was 'The Book of Disquiet' by Fernando Pessoa that I wanted desperately to read. So last Sunday imagine my shock when I saw a copy on the pavement. I immediately grabbed it but was a bit disappointed that there was some termite damage on the back cover and the inside back pages. But the pages with the main content were intact and only the index and the last pages had the termite damage. I would never find another copy anywhere so I bought it along with another book.
The other title was a copy of 'A Man in Love' Karl Ove Knausgaard. I haven't read anything by Knausgaard though a former office colleague told me she liked his books a lot. 'A Man in Love' is a tome and I wonder when I will be able to read it. This copy too was a bit damaged and I got these two books for just a hundred rupees.
Some time recently, about a couple of months back I had found a Penguin edition of 'Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole here at Abids. Last Sunday I found another copy of the same title but it was a Grove Press edition with an attractive cover that I couldn't resist.
In a sort of determination to read as much about Indian writing in English I have searched and also fond quite a few titles dealing with this topic. Last Sunday I found a copy of 'Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English' which on the cover said was a 'Student Edition' published by Karnatak University, Dharwad. I was thrilled to find that it had an essay by Prof. Meenakshi Mukherjee on Mulk Raj Anand's books. I haven't been able to find her books anywhere so finding this essay in this book was a small consolation. This I got for a hundred and fifty rupees though the binding was loose and tape was stuck to the spine to prevent the book from coming apart.
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