The Delhi Haul-4

The last day of my two-week trip to Delhi was a Sunday and since my flight home was sometime in the night I decided to check out the second hand book market at Mahila Haat once again. I hoped that there would be more sellers than were on my last visit the previous Sunday. As expected there were about two dozen sellers or more with their books neatly arranged or haphazardly strewn around for the buyers to look. There were some sellers on the pavement just outside Gate 3 of Delhi Gate Metro station and it was here that I found my first title of that day’s haul. It was a copy of ‘My Place’ by Sally Morgan that I picked up after I read on the cover that it was an ‘Australian Classic.’

Sometime early this year on a visit to Delhi I had been to the second hand book market at Darya Ganj. The first title I had found was a nice copy of ‘The War Against Cliché’ by Martin Amis. I had got it pretty cheap at fifty rupees. I saw another copy of the same title and since I was reading it back at home I decided to buy this copy too because it was too precious a book to be left behind. However this copy was a bit expensive; I paid hundred rupees for it.

The next find was a copy of ‘The Man Within’ by Graham Greene that I don’t remember having in my collection. I was glad to find it and I got it for hundred rupees.

The last title I found was a copy of ‘The High Road’ by Edna O’Brien that I got for only thirty rupees. But as expected I was unable to locate the copy of Anees Jung’s ‘Song of India’ that I had not had the sense to pick up on my previous visit.

The Sunday Haul (on 17-11-2019)

Last Sunday at Abids I found a title that I had been searching for since a long time. ‘The Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk was the title and though I had come across it recently at Jacksons Books in Pahargunj on a visit sometime during this year I did not buy it because the seller was asking for nearly four hundred rupees for the copy he had. At another time I saw a copy that was in a very bad condition and I did not feel like buying it. I had given up hope of finding a good and affordable copy so when I found it last Sunday at Abids I felt very glad. I was glad I did not buy the expensive copy I saw at Jacksons Books.

The copy of ‘The Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk that I found at Abids was in an absolutely beautiful condition and looked almost new. I got it for hundred rupees which I paid unhesitatingly though I thought it was a bit on the higher side by Abids’ standards. Nevertheless I was terribly pleased with myself for having spotted the book and buying it.

The Sunday Haul (on 10-11-2019)

Having missed my weekly visits to the Sunday book market at Abids for three consecutive weeks last Sunday I was back home and very, very eager to go there. Though at Delhi where I was for more than a fortnight I had picked up nearly twenty books, and also two books only the previous day I was looking forward to find at least one good title at Abids later in the day. Ultimately, I ended up finding three good titles in the haul.

Almost a decade ago I found a copy of ‘rude food’ by Vir Sanghvi at Abids. It wasn’t in a good condition with moisture stains and a faint coating of dried up moss or something like that. I bought it for Vir Sanghvi’s writing but though it was good the copy I found wasn’t good enough for me so I gave it away half way through the book. I was certain that I would find a better copy soon. But after nine long years I came across a beautiful copy last Sunday and picked it up. I enjoy food not by eating it but by reading about it.

In the same way I also like to read accounts by people who have led other lives and decide to live the farm life by taking up farming. It also happens to be something I too want to try out after I retire which isn’t too far away. But I haven’t yet gathered courage to take the jump. Though I’ve studied agriculture in college and also worked in the department it doesn’t help much because knowledge is one thing and actual experience an entirely different thing. Farming in India isn’t anything like it is written about. It takes a lot to be a farmer in India. Anyway I have read a few books on the farm life and when I came across a beautiful copy of ‘The Dirty Life’ by Kristin Kimball I bought it.

As with farming, so with dogs. Though I don’t keep a dog I do follow shows about dogs on television. I had watched ‘Dog Whisperer’ on TLC and was quite fascinated by the behaviour of dogs and how people like Cesar Millan teach people to handle their dogs. Last Sunday I saw a nice copy of ‘Cesar’s Rules’ by Cesar Millan and bought it just to learn more.

A Saturday Haul

After returning from Delhi with a haul of around dozen books I found that I had missed the book scene in Hyderabad so decided to drop in at the Lakdi-ka-pul branch of Best Books. It was a holiday because of the second Saturday and I had a bit of time to kill so I decided to do it at the book store. I thought I’d just take a look but as usual I took a look and also took a couple of books back with me.

There are few writers in Hyderabad and even fewer poets, so few that you can count their number on the fingers of one hand. This in a city of a couple of million. One such poet among us millions of ordinary people is Sridala Swami. My only complaint about her is that she’s written only two volumes of poems. I wish she would write more but the problem is you cannot force poetry out of anyone. It took me more than a decade to find her second collection titled ‘Escape Artist’ that I found last Saturday. There are more than forty finely crafted poems in four sections in this collection.

One writer I can never have enough is Arun Joshi. I have multiple copies of almost all his novels and I picked another beautiful copy of ‘The Strange Case of Billy Biswas’ at Best. The only Arun Joshi title I do not have is ‘The Survivor’ which is a collection of his short stories. I wonder how long I have to wait, and how many bookstores to search before I find this elusive title. Wish me luck, please.

Post 3 of 4: The Delhi Haul-3

On the first of November the two week training course I was attending came to an end. It was a Friday and back at my brother’s home in CR Park I read that there was a literary event the next day at IGNCA. On Saturday one of the programmes was a talk with three Sri Lankan writers, and it turned out I had read books written by these three writers. I had ‘Reef’ by Romesh Gunasekera, ‘Serendipity’ by Ashok Ferrey, and I had not only read two novels (The Amazing Racist’ and ‘Panther) by Chhimi Tenduf La I had also exchanged mails with him when he wrote to me after coming across my blog. So I decided to go the next day as I had nothing much to do.

On Saturday I reached IGNCA and it was like a carnival. There were bookstalls selling Hindi books. I decided to check out the books since there was a title I was looking for after I read about it somewhere in Caravan, I guess. It was ‘Naukar ki Kameez’ by Vinod Kumar Shukla and I found it in a stall. If I managed to read the book it would be the third Hindi novel that I would be reading. Later while flipping through the book I discovered that Vinod Kumar Shukla had done his M.Sc (Ag). I felt a minor thrill since I too had done my M.Sc (Ag) which made me resolve to read was ‘Naukar ki Kameez’ by Vinod Kumar Shukla one of these days.

The talk with the three Sri Lankan writers was in an auditorium. Before coming to IGNCA I had gone to Oxford Book Store in Connaught Place hoping to buy ‘Sun Catcher’ by Romesh Gunesekera and get it signed by the author. But I was disappointed to discover that OBS did not have titles by any of these three writers. However, there was a stall in IGNCA beside the auditorium where I found copies of ‘The Professional’ by Ashok Ferrey, ‘Loyal Stalkers’ by Chhimi Tenduf La and ‘Sun Catcher’ by Romesh Gunesekera. After the one hour talk I approached Chhimi Tenduf La first and got his book signed and also chatted with him for a while, and I did the same with Ashok Ferrey. Finally, I approached Romesh Gunesekera who put me at ease by asking me what I did and where I lived. He told me he had visited Hyderabad some time back and I wondered how I had missed it. Anyway he was gracious and signed on the copy of his book. I felt very pleased that my otherwise boring official trip to Delhi ended with this icing on the cake.

Post 2 of 4: The Delhi Haul-2

I wasn’t at home in Hyderabad for Diwali this year. I was in Delhi attending a two-phase, two week long training course. This year Diwali fell on Sunday and the only thing I do on Sunday is to go looking for books. That Diwali Sunday I decided to go to Mahila Haat in Delhi where the usual second hand book market was shifted from Daryaganj. As I reached Mahila Haat I wondered if there would be any book sellers out on a major festival and if I would find anything worth buying. It was my first visit to Mahila Haat so I had no idea how many sellers turn up every Sunday. That day I found not more than a dozen sellers and I ended up buying just one title. I picked up a title that I already have and the reason I bought it is that it came cheap.

More than ten years ago I had found a hardcover copy of ‘Bruce Chatwin’ by Nicholas Shakespeare. It had no jacket but I bought it. However, I did not read it but read another biography of Bruce Chatwin by Susannah Clapp that I found soon after. At one of the sellers at Mahila Haat I saw a heap of books selling for only twenty rupees and in that heap was this beautiful paperback copy of ‘Bruce Chatwin’ by Nicholas Shakespeare. I saw a copy of ‘The Song of India’ by Anees Jung that I foolishly thought I would pick up the following Sunday because I couldn’t find it when I went again the next Sunday.

There was another very interesting book I saw, a large sized, hardcover copy of ‘Answered by Flutes; Reflections from Madhya Pradesh’ by Dom Moraes. It was a coffee table book and was in bad condition with many of the pages having come loose and sticking out. I did not want to buy it though it would have been a great find. I had no space to carry it home and the condition of the book also dissuaded me from buying it.
I had another Sunday in Delhi and I decided I would visit Mahila Haat again the following week.

Post 1 of 4: The Delhi Haul-1

After a gap of six months I was sent to Delhi again for another training course, two courses actually, that would take me away from Hyderabad for two weeks. I was a substitute since the person who had been originally dropped off for some reason. I was a last minute substitute and I had no choice but to agree. On one hand I was reluctant to go because it meant I would spend the Diwali festival away from the family, and on the other hand I wanted to go because I wanted to check out the second hand book market that was now shifted to Mahila Haat in Delhi. I had two weekends and I planned to make the most of it only I did not account for the smog.

Back at home after the first spell of training at an institute in Greater Noida, I ventured out to Connaught Place on Saturday morning. My first stop was Anil Book Corner at CP where I found a copy of ‘Johnnie Sahib’ by Peter Scott. I bought it one the recommendation of the seller and also because I was the first customer and did not want to disappoint him. Later I went to one of my old haunts- Jacksons Books at Paharganj. At Jacksons I found three good titles.

Though I have been reading about Ngaio Marsh and had also come across some of his titles for some reason I did not feel like picking up any title to read. It is dumb I know but that’s how I am. Anyway, the first title I saw at Jacksons Books was ‘Death of a White Tie’ by Ngaio Marsh that I decided to buy though I could have bought it cheap at Abids back home in Hyderabad. This copy of ‘Death of a White Tie’ by Ngaio Marsh was in quite a good condition so it was value for money.

Another title that I almost grabbed the moment I spotted it was a nice copy of ‘New Grub Street’ by Paul Gissing. I remember I had this title jotted down in one of my notebooks so I did not even look properly at the book which turned out to be a mistake. Later when I checked out the book at home I noticed that the first four pages of the Introduction pages were missing. Even after a couple of decades of book collecting I sometimes forget to check if all the pages are intact before buying a book.

When I saw a beautiful copy of ‘The Pillars of Hercules’ by Paul Theroux I lied to myself that I did not possess a copy of this title. So in it went into the haul that threatened to grow into more than a half a dozen books if I did not leave the bookstore immediately. Reluctantly I left the book store because there was more book hunting to do the next day, being a Sunday, at the second hand book market that was shifted from Daryaganj to Mahila Haat.

More about the rest of the Delhi haul in the next three posts over the coming days.

The Sunday Haul (on 13-10-2019)

Though the Dasara festival was over the shops were open since Diwali was another two weeks away, and people with lots of money and nothing to do would want to shop. Also there was the marriage season so the regular shops were open last Sunday too. However, apart from a couple of second hand book sellers who had moved to other corners most of them were at their usual places.

I found a title by an author I had read about sometime back- Hanya Yanagihara. I thought I wouldn’t be able to find anything by her and so completely forgot about it. Last Sunday when I saw a copy of ‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanagihara at Abids I got a pleasant shock. The second hand book market that comes up at Abids every Sunday is truly a treasure house. The book was more than 700 pages long and I wondered if would be able to read it. But I didn’t hesitate for more than a minute before buying it. The other shock was that I paid only a hundred rupees for it.

Even before the joy of finding ‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanagihara had bubbled over I saw another wonderful book. I wasn’t even aware of ‘Figures in a Landscape’ by Paul Theroux so when I saw it with another seller at Abids I felt a thrill of excitement. It was a brand new copy and no wonder the seller asked for a bomb for it. I wasn’t willing to pay so much and so walked away after the seller refused my own offer. However, I couldn’t stop thinking about it as I went around looking at other titles until I finally turned around and picked up the copy of ‘Figures in a Landscape’ by Paul Theroux. Not buying it would have been quite a dumb decision because I read that it contains essays that Theroux has written during the period 2001-2016. There are thirty essays in this title, on subjects ranging from Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, Paul Bowles, Somerset Maugham, including one that immediately caught my eye- My Life as a Reader.

I read this essay right away and looked for authors and titles that I might have also read. There was Edmund Wilson’s ‘Memoirs of Hecate County’, B. Traven (whose ‘The Bridge in the Jungle’ I had found a couple of years ago), Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s ‘The Worst Journey in the World’, and also several titles and authors I haven’t read and that I now want to look for at Abids and elsewhere. It is finding books like these that make me want to come to Abids again and again.

The Sunday Haul (on 06-10-2019)

Last Sunday the festival shopping season was in full swing with shoppers thronging the stores like it was the last Dasara of their lives. There were some people stepping out of their fancy cars, who appeared like they had enough money to buy up every piece of dress, every pair of footwear from a couple of stores. The second hand booksellers, almost all of them, were at their usual places with a couple of them perched on the fringes. Though it had been raining every day without fail, last Sunday it did not rain until I was back home safe in the afternoon. It began to rain the moment I reached home and the downpour continued for a couple of hours. Though I found just one book I found a wonderful title that I began to read while having chai at the Star of India café in Abids.

There’s something about Australian writers I am drawn to. I have a small collection of books by Australian writers, including books about Australia by other writers on my shelves but I always have a feeling that there’s more that I have to read. Only recently I read about ‘The Choke’ by Sophie Laguna that I jotted down in my TBR list. Sometime next month a friend living in Australia is getting me a couple of books by Gerald Murnane that I am eagerly waiting to read. There was ‘Monkey Grip’ by Helen Garner that I cannot forget even after having read it several years ago.

When I saw a copy of ‘How I Feel’ by Brendan Cowell with the close up of a couple in a lip-lock I picked it up to see what was inside. I had not heard of Brendan Cowell before and when I read that he was an Australian actor, writer, and director I took a closer look. The joy of buying the book was spoilt by one of the greediest seller in Abids who thinks that every book he has is worth at least three hundred rupees which is what he asked me for the copy of ‘How I Feel.’ Anyway, I read the first chapter in the café where I have chai, and it turned out to be quite interesting.

The Sunday Haul

The festival season is upon us which means shopping, shopping, shopping for many. This shopping wave displaces the second hand book sellers at Abids because the regular stores do not close on Sundays during this festival season. Luckily, last Sunday though a few stores were open many of the second hand book sellers at Abids were at their usual places. Once again, I was alone and managed to find two books, both which I already had copies of.
Of course, not content with the three books I bought in the middle of the week, on Saturday once again dropped in at a second hand book store and picked up another book. It was a nice copy of ‘Two Faces of Eve’ by Amrita Pritam. I am both ashamed and also embarrassed to say that though I have read numerous articles about Amrita Pritam, especially last month, I haven’t read anything by her all these years. One reason could be that I couldn’t find a single title of Amrita Pritam till last Saturday when I spotted ‘Two Faces of Eve’ that was one of those 70’s editions that I have come to love. I got it for seventy rupees that I thought was far too less.

Anyway, not very long ago I had found a nice hardcover copy of ‘The Other Side of Me’ by Sidney Sheldon. It was a memoir, and it was by a popular writer which was something I simply cannot resist buying. I have so many memoirs by writers that I have a fair idea of what to write in my own memoir were I to become a writer. I am waiting. Though I do not give away some titles so easily there was someone I know who is such a major fan of Sidney Sheldon that every time we meet (which is about once a month) he tells me he has re-read some title or the other by Sidney Sheldon and we’ve been meeting since more than a decade. Last time we met he told me he had read ‘The Other Side of Midnight’ fifteen times. So I thought he was the right person to give ‘The Other Side of Me’ to since he too writes.

After I gave away that copy of ‘The Other Side of Me’ by Sidney Sheldon to my friend once or twice I wondered if had done the right thing because I too had read it and found it to be very absorbing account. But then last Sunday I found another copy of the same title but in a far better condition than the first copy I had found, which, if I remember correctly, had moisture stains on some pages. This memoir is as racy as the novels Sidney Sheldon writes.

The second book that I bought on Sunday was the outcome of a casual exchange I had with a seller. Usually, on spotting me he wishes me and I move on to look at the books he has displayed and move on to the next seller. Last Sunday I happened to ask him how he was and how business was whereupon he asked me to look at a new collection he had on a shelf in a voice that told me business was dull. I wanted him to cheer up and so bought a copy of ‘My Dateless Diary’ by RK Narayan that I had read ages ago. But I had to pay a price, a steep one, for my casual query about the seller’s business. I had to shell out a hundred rupees for it when I could have got a similar copy at a different seller for half the money.