The Sunday Haul- Part II (Magazines-NGA)

I had always thought that I was an adventure-loving guy, until last month. I had turned forty four in February and that day I sat down to review all the adventures I had in my forty four years of life. I realized that I hadn’t a single outdoor adventure worth recounting except the t three months I spent alone in the Andamans two years ago. I had roughed out on a ten-day solo road trip across the Andamans in the last month of my stay. This was the only adventure I had in my life. But that ten day trip is enough for a lifetime and I will write about it some other time.

I live most of my adventures in the mind as well as through magazines like National Geographic Adventure and other travel magazines. I believe when we dream of some things our eye is quick to catch words or things associated with them. On Sunday my eye caught the word ‘Adventure’ on a magazine lying under a heap of other magazines. When I pulled it out I found it was the June/July 2006 issue of “National Geographic Adventure” magazine. I wordlessly handed the twenty rupees the guy asked for it I was impatient to get back home and flip through it.

I finally went through the entire magazine today and spent a couple of hours mooning over the wonderful places described in the magazine. Two articles caught my attention and the bonus of reading one of them was that I found a new writer I want to read more of. One of the articles was by Michael Shnayerson on Wade Davis, an ethno-botanist

What I liked most in Shnayerson's fascinating article was the picture of Wade Davis’ fantastic study, a tiny circular room with a long table filled with books, laptops etc lining the wall all around. It is the sort of study I would like to have someday. The other thing I liked about him was his deep concern for the environment and for the ancient culture of tribals and aborigines in places like Peru, Borneo and Tibet. He speaks passionately about the threat they are facing from modernity and how soon we would lose all the ancient wisdom they possessed. It is a depressing thought.

Wade Davis is the author of nine books including ‘One River’ a best-selling book about his travels with Tim Plowman, a researcher, and another bestseller ‘The Serpent and the Rainbow’ which was made into a film. I have written down these titles in my to-buy list. He is currently at work on a documentary titled ‘Light at the Edge of the World’. I wish there were more people like him to bring to light our vanishing heritage.

The other article I liked reading in the NGA was the one about a long trip in Mozambique by Paul Kvinta. It was great writing and stunning pictures of the Mozambique landscape. He writes how philanthropists like Greg Carr are chipping in to rebuild the war ravaged wildlife reserves like Gorongosa. It was an optimistic article about how our own efforts can conserve our fragile world.

I am glad I found this magazine. It is worth more than the twenty rupees I paid for it. If I cannot go on adventurous trips I try to compensate by reading about them hence the fascination with magazines like Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic and books like Linda Greenlaw’s ‘The Hungry Ocean-Swordfish Captain’s Journey’, ‘A Year in Provence’, ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ and so on.

The Sunday Haul- Part I!

I had read a lot about Ryszard Kapuscinski but never found any book by him except an article by him in a travel book I found recently. It was Granta Travel issue (No. 26) and I had felt glad when I found the book. But I haven’t read the article hoping to read it when I had a lot of time on hand. One doesn’t read good stuff casually without paying attention. Even before I could find the time to read Kapuscinski’s article I struck gold last Sunday. I actually found a book written by him. When I saw it I could barely contain my excitement. It was ‘The Emperor and Shah of Shahs’. I had never heard of this book but I knew it was a great find. I don’t know if it is, but I picked it up anyway. I got the book for fifty bucks. This was the only book I found on Sunday and the rest I picked up were magazines.

I was flipping through the book today and noticed that it was about two rulers- Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (The Emperor), and the Shah of Iran (Shah of Shahs) hence the title ‘The Emperor and Shah of Shahs’. Kapuscinski writes in Polish and the book I found was an English translation published by Picador. The book was in good condition with all pages including the cover intact. I am eager to read it as early as I can.

The rest of the haul consisted of magazines. I picked up three during the hunt that lasted nearly two hours. The first mag I picked up was a new magazine- Monocle (May 2007) which I got for forty bucks. The second was National Geographic Adventure (June/July 2006) for twenty rupees. The last find was a magazine I was looking for – Men’s Health Best Life (June 2006) which I got for only ten rupees. I will write about these magazines in the next post.

A New Tabloid for Hyderabad, Hilton becomes CCD

Hyderabad Gets a New Weekly Tabloid- 'DECCAN POST'
About a decade ago I happened to buy a copy of a tabloid called ‘Deccan Post’. I was happy to see a tabloid then in a scene dominated by daily newspapers and magazines. Unfortunately that was the only issue of the tabloid that saw the light of the day because it did not appear again. On Thursday I chanced upon the same tabloid-‘Deccan Post’ but with a redesigned masthead on the stands. It said it was the ‘Gen Next Newsweekly for Hyderabadis’ and the price was ten rupees an issue.

The production quality of the 36-page was good with a neat layout including color photographs. The content is a mix of local politics and entertainment. I liked the items about the Abids booksellers, the Jeep meet and articles about some things that are fading from the scene in Hyderabad.

Already there are three monthly magazines devoted to Hyderabad and 'Deccan Post' in tabloid format is a welcome addition. At ten rupees per issue it isn’t such a bad bargain but it would be better if there is more improvement in quality of the content.

Hilton Makes Way for CCD
I happened to be near the OU Campus on Saturday and saw that the shutters of Hilton were up. There was some work going on inside- a false ceiling was coming up. I was curious to know if Hilton was reopening in a new avatar but the person in the cigarette stall beside the hotel told me ‘Coffee Day’ is coming up. That was news. Irani Chai making way for CCD/Barista – this is the familiar scene nowadays in Hyderabad.

The tea joints are making way for plush, trendy CCDs and Barista outlets in tune with the changing lifestyles. Nodoubt there are patrons for such places who don’t mind shelling out big bucks for a cup of coffee but where does that leave the ordinary folks who don’t want anything more fancy than a simple cup of tea ? Maybe we should have our tea from the roadside ‘bandis’ whose number seems to be increasing by the day.

Bharat Petroleum’s Surprise on a Sunday Morning
Yesterday early in the morning I had to fill petrol in my bike. It wasn’t even seven in the morning when I rode into the Bharat Petroleum’s filling station- Sai Priya- at RTC X-Roads. I filled in two hundred rupees’ worth of petrol and was driving away when the attendant handed me the day’s ‘Deccan Chronicle’. I thought he was selling it but he told me it was complimentary. I was pleasantly surprised at this gesture. I wonder if it was the initiative of BP or the filling station guys. Whatever, next time I want to fill up my bike I’ll come here early in the morning on Sundays!

Taking the Kid for an Outing

It is amazing how y kids remember some vague promise made to them a long time ago. This fact was brought to my notice early in the morning yesterday. My ten-year old son woke up earlier than usual and came straight from the bed to my table where I was writing. I wondered why he had woken up so early on a holiday. (It was Sivarathri yesterday.) Bleary eyed and not yet fully awake, he reminded me of my promise of taking him to the Indira Park on the next holiday. I had entirely forgotten about this promise and tried to talk him out of it. But he was adamant, and so off we went to Indira Park, a ten minute ride from our house.

But when we reached the park I was glad I made the trip. A park is the perfect place to be on an early summer’s morning. Already there were people milling about, some with earphones plugged into their ears, going about their daily constitutional. Some were doing various exercises. Many were sitting under trees and doing Pranayama. There were hordes of kids running around in the green lawns. Some were playing with Frisbees and some were playing shuttle badminton. A lot of people begin their day with a walk in the park. Only those lucky to stay within walking distance of the park can afford to come daily.

We strolled around inside the park watching the people. A gaggle of white geese attracted everyone's attention, especially the kids'. The geese were striding purposefully on the path beside the lake. There was a reason for their haste because soon they came upon a man with a bag in his hands. He threw them bread crumbs which the geese eagerly grabbed from the air. A woman took a picture on her cell phone camera. It was an unusual sight. I had seen another person feed grains to pigeons on the Necklace Road sometime ago. On previous visits I noticed an elderly gentleman leaving pieces of bread for squirrels in this park. It is heartwarming to see that people care about animals. But I wonder if they aren’t feeding them the wrong kind of food?

My kid was fascinated with a youngster who was hauling a net full of fish from a pond. The youngster sat astride on some kind of a white plastic sack filled with foam and paddled with his legs. Another youngster on the shore pulled in the net and filled the fish into another bag. My son watched as the fish wiggled their tails gasping for airm their gills flapping.

Wherever we went we noticed empty plastic water bottles floating in the lakes and other water bodies inside the park. There were plastic bags, empty wrappers of chips and other eatables littering the lawns. Why do we throw around so much stuff and make our environment dirty? It is easy to blame the park authorities for not keeping the park clean and garbage-free. But isn’t it our responsibility to throw all garbage in the bins and containers provided for the purpose? We just throw the empty wrappers wherever we like. It is high time we thought about it or else Hyderabad too will join the list of the dirtiest cities in the world (Mumbai and Delhi are already listed) as reported in a recent survey.

Tipping in Irani Restaurants

From where I work at Gunfoundry, four Irani restaurants are in the vicinity within walking distance. I visit only one regularly for my afternoon cup- Bombay Bakery and Restaurant. Another I drop in for the morning cuppa sometimes- Adarsh is at Adarshnagar. I cannot do without at least one cup of Irani tea every day. Sometimes I feel my brain would cease to function if I do not drink Irani tea at least once daily. I guess all true blue Hyderabadis feel similarly.

Yesterday evening I dropped in at another Irani which I frequent only occasionally-the ‘Lavish Corner’ near LB Stadium opposite the Westside Store. As with other places, finding a seat is quite difficult during the peak hours of four to seven in the evening. I had one of the tastiest cups of tea I ever had in recent times and it was worth the five bucks the tea costs. In the other places the price of one cup of tea is still four rupees a cup.

One tip for getting good service at Irani restaurants in Hyderabad is to be a regular at the place and leave a small tip to the waiters. Even a one-rupee tip is enough, which is what I leave for the guy who brings me my tea. The regular tipping ensures I get a ‘salaam’ from the waiter as well as tea in a clean cup without any tea spilt in the saucer. In most Irani restaurants you wilI find that half the tea is in saucer and the cup is half floating in it. I get the same service at both the places where the waiters recognize me and get me my tea even before I order it. That’s what tipping is for.

A Costly Lesson at Abids

Even after one is at a hobby for as long as twenty years, there is no guarantee that one will not make a mistake, a costly one at that. Yesterday at Abids I made a fundamental mistake, the sort newbies make. It cost me nearly hundred bucks, this simple mistake.

I had spotted the November 2007 issue of ‘Conde Naste Traveler’ which was a special issue. It had the list of the best hotels, resorts, places etc of 2007, and was brand new. I immediately fell for it and grabbed it for a hundred rupees which, as a voice inside my head was telling me, was a bit over the top. But two weeks of book deprivation seemed to have dulled my senses and I picked it up unmindful of the protesting voice. A few minutes later I saw the same magazine, four copies of them with a different guy available for only twenty rupees. Yikes, that was a costly mistake! I normally ask the bookseller to keep aside the book while I take a look around. If I don't find a copy of the book at a lesser price I pick it up but today I forgot this lesson.

I found two other books, both hardcover books in a heap selling for only ten rupees each. The first book was Russell Baker’s “Growing Up’, a memoir of his childhood. The book was in good condition and amazingly the 278 pages book was mine for only ten rupees. I have a paperback copy of the same book that I had got earlier for twenty rupees.

The second book I found was something unusual for my taste. It was a book on running- ‘The Running Life’ by Dr. George Sheehan. This book too had 268 pages and was in good condition. A couple of weeks back I had picked up a magazine on running. Though I don't run I have a strange attraction to this activity. Maybe I will take up running someday soon. As I said earlier I got this book too for only ten rupees.

Amazing what one can get for a mere ten rupees in Hyderabad!

Paul Theroux in India

I wish I had known beforehand about Paul Theroux’s visit to India. Almost everyday there is something about him in the papers, an interview here, a write up there and a quote somewhere, and I regret I couldn’t meet him. I had read somewhere that he was in Kolkata to inaugurate the Book Fair which was cancelled at the last minute.

Then I read that he was in Chennai to conduct a writing workshop for a group of aspiring writers at the US Consulate. One of the writers was New Indian Express columnist Biswanath Ghosh who wrote about what the great writer told the lucky few in an article in last Sunday’s ‘Sunday Indian Express’. Biswanath Ghosh is an unabashed admirer of Paul Theroux and he writes about his idol in his blog- http://www.bytheganges.blogspot.com/.

In Biswanath’s article in the Express he writes about Theroux’s beginnings as a writer and his friendship with VS Naipaul which takes up the most space. There’s also advice from Theroux for all writers- Write in longhand, Revise, Leave home and work far away, Read (Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, Thomas Mann’s ‘Death in Venice and Kushwant Singh’s short story ‘Rape’) and Don’t worry about publication but express yourself.

The same day, The Hindu carried an extremely interesting interview by K.Srilata with Theroux. In the interview Paul Theroux replies to Srilata’s questions about fiction writing and travel writing, which he says is a form of autobiography. Once again the subject of Naipaul pops up and he says that Naipaul ‘s criticism is savage and provocative.

In the same week 'Outlook' weekly carried a smallish interview with him. One question Paul Theroux must have got tired of answering is his soured friendship with VS Naipaul, his former mentor. But Theroux revealed different aspects of the friendship in each interview, something only inventive writers like him can do.

In the most recent issue of 'Outlook' there was a small item about Theroux, again about his friendship with VS Naipaul and whether Naipaul liked to read his books. Theroux gently pokes fun at Naipaul in his reply.

Today’s (29/2/08) Metro Plus supplement of The Hindu carried an interesting quote attributed to Paul Theroux- ‘ I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.' The quote carried a striking picture of Theroux looking every inch a writer.

In fact, The Hindu’s done the maximum number of items on Paul Theroux. Not a day goes by without reading some thing about him in that newspaper. There was a write up on him by Shonali Muthalaly sometime in the beginning of this month. Then there was a short write up by Suchitra Behal in her weekly column ‘Sightings’ in last Sunday’s The Hindu.

I guess he is still around in the country, somewhere. I wish I had the good fortune to meet him and listen to his talk about writing. It would have been a wonderful experience meeting a great writer who inspires me and also, no doubt, thousands of readers in India. I am waiting for his new book which he says is a sort of sequel to ‘The Great Railway Bazaar’.

Another Round of Bookstores and Another New City Magazine In Hyderabad

Yesterday again I dropped into two bookstores- a second hand bookstore and also a regular bookstore and came up with a good book- Pico Iyer’s ‘Global Souls’ which I found at the second hand bookstore.

At around tea-time yesterday I slipped out of office and went to Best Books Centre at Abids. I saw ‘Global Soul’ in the display and immediately had it taken out because I had a funny experience in this very shop a year or so back. I had entered the shop and noticed Syd Field’s book on scriptwriting and thinking no one would pick it up I leisurely browsed the other racks. A little later another customer entered the store and before my eyes picked up the book I had planned to buy. I tried to reason with him but he wouldn’t budge. I felt crushed at losing such a good book. I had wanted the book so badly that I had the book sent from the US by my brother.

So, yesterday I took the precaution of telling the guy at the counter to keep ‘Global Soul’ aside. After that, I looked around but couldn’t find anything interesting. I got Global Soul for Rs 195 which is a bit expensive but I didn’t mind because it was a fairly new copy and you don’t get many Pico Iyer’s books in Hyderabad. I haven’t yet finished reading his other book ‘Tropical Classical’ that I had found a couple of months ago.

Another City magazine hits the stands in Hyderabad- 'The Minaret City'
I went to ‘Walden’ at Begumpet in the evening to kill time while waiting for my friend. I found the latest issue of ‘Tinkle’ here which I couldn’t find at Odyssey a couple of days back. My kid loves to read it and needless to say I too enjoy it. (I’m a bit like Suppandi myself!)

I saw that another city magazine has hit the stands. Now the city magazine niche is getting crowded with three magazines vying for the reader’s attention. The magazine I saw yesterday was ‘The Minaret City’ and was priced at Rs 25. It looked okay to me though all these magazines are beginning to look similar with the same advertisements for jewellry stores and restaurants on their pages. It has to be seen which magazine leads the pack.

Walden is a big store with thousands of books on its shelves. It is a bit glitzy and doesn’t have the atmosphere of a serious bookstore overshadowed that it is by other items. But is the first big bookstore to open in Hyderabad back in the nineties and it remains at the top. Not my favorite though.

Another Sunday Lost

For the second successive week I missed my weekly Sunday book hunt at Abids. Yesterday I was tied up on official work and missed my Sunday hunt for books. Though my office is a stone’s throw away from Abids I was not able to go there. I feel odd on those Sundays I cannot make it to Abids. It has become a habit since nearly two decades. I always make it to Abids on Sundays except when I am sick or when I am traveling. It is such a big part of my Sunday that most of my friends know where I can be found on Sunday mornings.

I thought I would get about an hour’s time in the evening to spend at Abids but it is not enough to cover all the book-sellers. But though I had time in the evening I wasn’t in the mood to go as a crank caller was bothering me to distraction. It is odd how some people take to harassing those they don’t know with blank calls. It was a very unsettling experience. I now feel that I should have gone to Abids anyway and browsed in that limited time I had. I could have worked off the bad temper searching for a good book. It was a wrong decision and now I have to wait until next Sunday.

I plan to make up for the lost Sunday by visiting a couple of second hand bookstores during the week and looking around. There is something in a bookstore that calms my nerves.

Crossing a Milestone, and Two More Notebooks

The day before yesterday I crossed a major milestone in writing my first book. I am now only fifty or sixty pages from the end. I have been at work on this book since more than two years and at last the end is in sight. It was tough in the beginning to write every day and reach specific milestones- 50 pages, 100 pages and so on. Somewhere in the middle of writing the book I hit upon the idea of rewarding myself with some goodies whenever I reach a milestone. For reaching last week's milestone I promised myself to buy a couple of notebooks, a pair of jeans and any two books I happened to fancy.

To buy my rewards, yesterday I dropped in at Odyssey store and found three more varieties of 'rainbow' brand of notebooks called "Book Worm" displayed. One was a real beauty of around three hundred pages but of A5 size. I bought it and another of A6 size, both in plain paper. There were notebooks with color pages but I don't like to write on anything other than white paper. The notebooks were attractive though. I plan to pick up more such notebooks sometime next month. I also have to buy the jeans and the books which I plan to do early next week.

This system of rewarding oneself for minor achievements works because it motivates one to complete the task or goal. The trick is to write down the milestones and also the rewards you will get on reaching them. The only hitch is that you have to pay for the rewards yourself! Now I am looking forward to write the remaining fifty odd pages which now don't seem such a big task because I have no more than fifty pages to write. I have promised to buy an iPod for myself after I finish writing the first draft of my book. It might be mid-April when I reach the last page. Next update on my book will be when I finish it.