The New Pens in My Life

Sometime in February this year, my friend and fellow bibliophile Jai gave me a pleasant surprise by gifting me a Misak fountain pen after I casually mentioned to him that I was looking for another Misak in addition to the one I already had. Jai gave me a Misak almost exactly like the one I had except for minor differences. I fitted a Sheaffer nib I had lying with me to it and now it writes wonderfully. This is the Misak I got from Jai:

I had come across the name ‘Kanwrite’ somewhere but I did not realize that it was an Indian fountain pen brand. Someone in a fountain pen group on FB mentioned a name and a number of ‘Kanwrite’ makers. I sent a message on Whatsapp and got a sort of catalogue of dozens of beautiful looking pens in different colours. This is the ‘Kanwrite Desire’ I eventually selected and got within a week of ordering it. It is a beauty with a smooth finish.

The Sunday Haul (on 18-03-2018)

Perhaps to make up for the zero haul at Abids the previous Sunday, last Sunday yielded another wonderful haul. Three of the four titles I found were truly eye-popping titles of which one was a truly spectacular find. The haul did not coming cheap though for I ended up paying quite a bit. But I think they were all worth the six hundred and fifty rupees I shelled out for them.

The first find last Sunday at Abids was the aforementioned spectacular title. I spotted ‘The Greek Myths’ emblazoned in gold on the red cover. It was too striking to miss and as soon I saw it I decided to buy the book whatever the price. It turned out to be not one book but two volumes of the same title when I took a closer look. The two volumes were inside a half box which, I later discovered is called a ‘slipcase.’ When I took the two volumes out and looked at the illustrated cover I was taken aback.

It was The Folio Society edition and the books were very, very beautiful. I thought the seller would ask for something like a thousand rupees for the two-volume set. I was willing to pay that much but I was pleasantly surprised when he said the price was five hundred rupees but would give them to me for four hundred rupees. I paid three hundred and fifty rupees and the set was mine. It was a steal and I was pleased like anything at having found a wonderful title.

The second find at Abids was some kind of a mix about movies, books and a famous Hollywood actress. I found a copy of ‘5th Avenue 5 AM’ by Sam Wasson. It was about the making of the movie ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s based on the book with the same title by Truman Capote, starring Audrey Hepburn. I don’t know why I bought it but I paid forty rupees for it.

After finding these titles at Abids the rest of the haul got added at Chikkadpally on the way home. Sometime in 2015 at a sale by Best Books I had found a copy of ‘Avarana’ by SL Bhyrappa. It was a huge tome running into hundreds of pages. Like ‘Avarana’ ‘Parva’ that I found at Chikkadpally was another tome of 950 odd pages. It would take more than a month for me to finish reading it. But I was terribly pleased I did not hesitate to buy the Sahitya Akademi English version of ‘Parva’ by SL Bhyrappa the moment I saw it. I do not have any idea about it and I bought it thinking it would be something good.

At the other seller in Chikkadpally I spotted another wonderful title. It was a title related to my favorite continent- Africa. Sometime after Doris Lessing won the Nobel in Literature I picked up a copy of ‘The Golden Notebook’ but never got around to reading it. When I saw another title, a non-fiction title, by Lessing I picked it up. It was a copy of ‘African Laughter- Four Visits to Zimbabwe’ that seems to be some kind of a travelogue. I was just unconsciously looking for something like this on Africa I guess. I am glad I have something more and something very good on Africa by a Nobel laureate to read. I bought it for hundred rupees but I think it will be worth a lot more than that.

The Sunday Haul (on 04-03-2018)

If anyone had wanted proof that summer had already come to Hyderabad he would have got it last Sunday. Out at Abids in the morning around eleven it already felt uncomfortably warm. It was going to be a hot day I knew so I was prepared. I had a cap on and had also brought along a bottle of water. But there was no one to share it with since none of my friends turned up. I browsed the titles laid out on the pavements all alone. By the end of two hours I had a haul of five books including a cookbook.

I guess it was ‘Dark Star Safari’ by Paul Theroux that roused my interest in Africa that I wanted to visit and see the vast continent for myself. Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ further deepened the hunger to know more. Then came ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton and I was captivated by Africa. I still am and if anyone asks me if there’s any place I want to visit first and last I would say one of the African countries, preferably Nigeria-Achebe country. Anyway, since it looks like I would have to settle for finding more of my Africa in Abids I love to let others know about the great African writers and their books. My first find at Abids last Sunday was another copy of ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton that had a cover very different from the usual ones I had seen earlier. It was a good copy and I couldn’t help buying it. I got it for just thirty rupees.

After finding ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ by Alan Paton I sat in the café alone and leafed through it. I read the interesting story behind the writing and publication of this classic. I had read the tale earlier in his autobiography ‘Towards the Mountain’ that I was lucky enough to find. This edition had a foreword by the publisher, Charles Scribner Jr.

The next find was shortly after I came out of the café. I saw a copy of ‘Trust Me’ by John Updike. It was a collection of short stories and since I haven’t read many short stories by Updike I picked it up. These are the 22 stories in this collection: Trust Me; Killing; Still of Some Use; The City; The Lovely Troubled Daughters of Our Old Crowd; Unstuck; A Constellation of Events; Death of Distant Friends; Pygmalion; More Stately Mansions; Learn a Trade; The Ideal Village; One More Interview; The Other; Slippage; Poker Night; Made in Heaven; Getting into the Set; The Wallet; Leaf Season; Beautiful Husbands; the Other Woman.

Many a time I’ve picked up books by unknown authors that turned out to be either good reads or books that’s been made into movies. Last Sunday I spotted a book that I had a hunch could be a good read. It was a copy of ‘Under a Raging Sky’ by Daniel Carney and picked it up to take a closer look. I read the movies ‘Wild Geese’ and ‘Wild Geese II’ were based on the novels of Daniel Carney. That was enough to make me buy ‘Under a Raging Sky’ and I got it for thirty rupees only. I hope to find more of his books in the future.

The next find was a great title. I found a copy of ‘Bhava’ by UR Ananthamurthy. I have a copy of ‘Samskara’ that I haven’t yet read but in January at the Hyderabad Literary Festival I had watched the movie ‘Ghatashraddha’ based on UR Anantamurthy’s work. The copy I found seemed to have been discarded by some library whose stamp on one of the pages was smudged. I got this copy for fifty rupees
The last find was a hefty volume. It was ‘Chef's Vegetarian Favorites from the Taj' 2006 of the Taj Group, all of five hundred pages containing recipes of vegetarian dishes from the many hotels of the Taj group in India and also in other countries. I bought this tome for a hundred rupees.

The Holi/World Book Day Haul

Last Thursday happened to be a holiday for us blokes in the Telangana government because it was Holi. It also happened to be World Book Day something which I did not bother very greatly since I felt that for me every day was a book day. Since I was at home due to the holiday I decided to do two book related things:- Read a book, buy a book.

One of the couple of things I wanted to do in 2018 was to prepare a list of titles I have to read and begin reading them one by one. One of the titles in this ‘to read’ list is ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald that pickedup at Abids the previous Sunday. I decided to begin reading it and right after breakfast I opened it and plunged into the world of Gatsby. I managed to read it until the last page reading it well past my usual sleeping time and finally finished it at eleven in the night.

Since buying a book was the second goal of the day I decided the Best Book Centre secondhand store at Lakdi ka Pul would be a nice place to hunt. I still regret not having bought the copy of Ngugu wa Thiong’O’s ‘Matigari’ that I had seen a couple of years ago at another second-hand bookstore. I had never heard of Ngugi and hand no idea who he was. Last month Ngugi mentioned ‘Matigari’ in wonderful talk he gave during his visit to Hyderabad. I still find it unbelievable that I had seen him in person. Though I had managed to get his signature on my copies of ‘Petals of Blood’ and ‘Dreams in a Time of War’ I feel like kicking myself for not getting photographed with him.

Anyway, at the Best Book Centre store I saw a nice copy of ‘Matigari’ on one of the shelves and I grabbed it. But it did not come cheap since I had to pay a hundred and eighty rupees for it. Whatever, I had the quiet satisfaction of celebrating ‘World Book Day’ for the first time in my life in a befitting manner by reading a book and also buying one.

The Sunday Haul (on 25-02-2018): Joy and Disappointment

In more than half the books on writing that I’ve read, and that’s about three hundred or so, there’s a title that’s mentioned unfailingly. Quite surprisingly I never had more than a normal desire to read it. Somehow, I did not come across ‘The Great Gatsby’ by Scott F. Fitzgerald anywhere at all and so when I saw it at Abids last Sunday I grabbed it. I got it for forty rupees. I was more than glad to have found this book that I had planned to find and read during this year. I had made a list of titles that I wanted to read this year so I got started off on it by starting to read ‘The Great Gatsby’ yesterday (Wednesday) with the intention of finishing on March 1.

The joy was meeting Jai again after a short gap. The real reason behind my joy was that he had brought with him a Misak to give to me when I had mentioned to him that I wanted one. Sometime back I had been to the Hilal pen store near Charminar and picked up a fat, brown fountain pen that wrote like a dream after I fitted a Sheaffer nib to it. I had been to Charminar to check on the store but was shocked to learn that the shop had shut down. Anyway, Jai came to my rescue and presented me with another Misak fountain pen that was exactly like the one I had. It is so wonderful to have such friends in life who unhesitatingly give away things that would bring joy to others. Thanks Jai.

Soon after that joy came the disappointment but I did not know it at that time. Ross Macdonald is one writer whose books I never fail to buy. It seems to have been my lucky day at Abids since I spotted ‘The Eighth Dwarf’ by Ross Macdonald with a seller. I was in a hurry to leave as I had guests at home waiting for me to bring biryani for lunch so I gave the book a cursory glance and took it. In the evening when I looked at the book again I realized that I had made a fundamental mistake. I had failed to check if the book had all pages. The copy of ‘The Eighth Dwarf’ I found had only 255 pages whereas an internet search showed that there are 319 pages in the book. It wasn’t the fact that I had paid forty rupees for this incomplete book that hurt me but that I had failed to check the book thoroughly that did.

Double Post Sunday: Post- 2 : Ngugi in Hyderabad

Though I possess four titles by him I haven’t read anything by Ngugi wa Thiong’O until last Sunday. I have a good idea how African writers can touch you with their vivid imagery and beautiful language after reading Chinua Achebe. Achebe’s writing had given me ideas about visiting Nigeria and other African countries to see for myself those lands and those people that these writers have brought alive in the pages of their wonderful books.

Sometime last week Kurmanath of Businessline had tweeted about Ngugi wa Thiong’ O’s visit to Hyderabad. I had read in the papers about Ngugi’s events in Delhi and also Kolkata but I never knew that he was coming to Hyderabad on Sunday. He would be in Hyderabad to launch a Telugu translation of his ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ that I had a copy of! I decided I would go to the event and get the book signed by Thiong’O. It is not every day that a writer who is on the Nobel shortlist comes to Hyderabad. In fact I realized I had another title by him- Petals of Blood- that I had found somewhere. I looked for it in my various bookshelves and found the book.

It was a wonderful evening last Sunday at the NTR Auditorium in Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University in Nampally where Ngugi launched the Telugu translation of ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ and also read out a few passages from it. It was an unforgettable evening for a couple of hundred people who filled up the hall and also spilled outside. However, it became chaotic after the reading since there was a clamour to take selfies with him and also get his signature on books. Everyone crowded around him and people had to be shooed off so he could get some breathing space. Someone decided it would be better if Ngugi signed the books outside. So the queue I was in broke off and began anew at a spot outside the auditorium.

I waited patiently while the others stood in line. One person made Ngugi sign on a thesis. A youngster standing in line before me noticed that I had two books in hand. He offered to get Ngugi’s signature on one of the books and took ‘Petals of Blood’ from me. Somehow I got his signature on the book in my hand. Afters sometime the youngster returned ‘Petals of Blood’ to me and said he got Ngugi to sign twice! I looked inside and found two pages on which Ngugi had signed!

Now after the event I checked my blog once more and found that I had found copies of ‘Devil on the Cross,’ Ngugi’s most famous novel perhaps, and also ‘Secret Lives’ a collection of short stories. I have never felt so dumb before failing to take these books along to get them signed by Ngugi. No wonder I work for the government.

Double Post Sunday: Post-1: The Sunday Haul (on 18-02-2018)

Quite often I find myself all alone at Abids when my usual friends do not turn up for our Sunday morning ritual. On such occasions I’m a bit disappointed but it helps me to look at the titles on display on the pavements without much distraction. The first title I found was a nice copy of ‘Meals with Vegetables’ published by the Radhasaomi Satsang Beas organisation. Though it had recipes of all sorts of dishes from all over the world there were some recipes of Indian dishes too. It was too good let go and so I bought it for seventy rupees which was a bit on the higher side.

The next find too was another cookbook that I spotted in a heap of books selling for twenty rupees. I saw a tattered copy of ‘Pure Vegetarian Indian Cookery’ by Pritam Uberoi. Leafing through it I found a few interesting recipes which I thought I would want to try out someday when the missus would let me enter the kitchen.

Then in another heap of books selling for only twenty rupees I saw a nice copy of ‘A Touch of Danger’ by James Jones. Now I haven’t yet read anything by James Jones though there is a copy of his ‘From Here to Eternity’ that I look at now and then and balk at reading such a thick tome. I thought this smaller book would be a good way to get started on James Jones and what’s more it was a thriller so I picked it up.

After finishing at Abids I stopped at Chikkadpally on the way home and right away spotted a copy of ’84, Charing Cross Road’ by Helene Hanff that had a cover different from the covers of the three copies I had at home. This would be my fourth copy and I bought it since I was getting it for only thirty rupees. It was a Penguin edition and had such a lovely cover you could say I bought it for the cover alone.

The Sunday Haul (on 11-02-2018)

On some Sundays I am compelled to a brief visit lasting less than an hour at Abids. On such occasions I do a sort of whirlwind tour of some of the sellers where there is the possibility of finding something new. Last Sunday I had a function to attend and though I had decided in the morning not to go to Abids I changed my mind at the last minute and went. Even before I could go to the café at Abids to have chai with my friends I had already found two titles.

A long time back I had found a copy of Chandra Padmanabhan’s ‘Dakshin: Vegetarian Delicacies from South India’ that I had got quite cheap. Last Sunday I came across another copy but with a different cover. It was ina good condition and after some initial hesitation I bought it.
The second find too was another cookbook. I had bought a copy of Thangam Philip’s ‘Modern Cookery’ somewhere and so the name was familiar. I came across a copy of ‘A Touch of Spice’ that was in a good condition. It was a small, attractive book that I bought right away for just thirty rupees.

Though I wanted to check out other sellers I was running late to a function I had to attend so I left after just a little under an hour’s browsing at Abids that yielded two titles.

The Sunday Haul (on 04-02-2018)

Until I reached Abids last Sunday I was of a firm resolve in mind. I had decided not to buy any books at Abids since I had picked up twenty six books at the Hyderabad Book Fair less than a week ago. It would be madness to add more books to the large haul or so I thought until I saw a mouth-watering title on the shelf with one of the sellers at Abids. I saw a nice copy of ‘The East Indian Kitchen’ by Michael Swamy that had the sort of cover that mades me go weak at the knees. I had come across the name ‘Michael Swamy’ only the previous week somewhere. I decided I would buy just one title and temporarily put my resolve on hold. I got this wonderful title for seventy rupees.

A week before my birthday a dear friend asks me which title I would like to get as a present. This year I decided to ask for a cookbook and while searching for something good I came across ‘The Complete Vegetable Cookbook’ by Vasantha Moorthy that looked good but the price was too, too high. So I opted for something different and got it only today. The second title I found at Abids last Sunday was a copy of ‘The Complete Vegetable Cookbook’ by Vasantha Moorthy. I did not hesitate because I was getting it for just a hundred rupees whereas the online price was over five thousand rupees. However the copy I found was in a good condition except that the bound pages were detached from the spine on the inside. It was a big disappointment since everything else was in good shape. But I bought it since it wasn’t something that couldn’t be fixed. I could glue together the cover and the rest of the book.

Then just as I was thinking that there was no chance I would find another title I would be tempted to buy I came across a fat book with a cover I couldn’t take my eyes off from. It was a copy of ‘The Portable Plato’ edited by Scott Buchanan. Inside it said ‘Protagoras, Symosium, Phaedo, and the Republic, complete, in the English Translation by Benjamin Jowett.’ It was no small book but was a nearly 700 pages tome. I got it for just fifty rupees. With these three titles the number of books I bought in 2018 so far adds up to thirty six.

The Hyderabad Book Fair Haul- Day 5

On all the four days I have been to the Book Fair I haven’t even looked at a regular book stall since there were too many second hand book stalls I wanted to check out. But on my fifth visit to the Book Fair I decided to check out a stall for something I’ve been telling myself I would do since a long, long time. Hindi was my second language at school so it means I can read and write in Hindi. But I have never read anything in Hindi since passing out of school. I loved all the stories and poems I read in the text books in school. I have always wanted to read a Hindi novel since it makes no sense knowing a language pretty well and not reading good books in that language. It seemed pretty dumb to me so I promised myself I would read a classic novel in Hindi. I made this promise about four or five years ago and on my fifth visit to the book fair I came closer to keeping this promise. I saw the stall of Milind Prakashan and looked around. I had written down a few titles and a few authors I wanted to find at the book fair and one of them was ‘Gunahon ka Devta’ by Dharam Vir Bharti. I found a nice copy of ‘Gunahon ka Devta’ by Dharam Vir Bharti and picked it up. I hope to start reading it someday soon.

In the book stall where there was as a heap of books selling three for hundred rupees I looked for good titles. Ever since I’ve read ‘The Gathering’ by Anne Enright I have been a huge fan of her writing. Sometime back I had found a copy of ‘The Pleasures of Eliza Lynch’ and I looked forward to reading other Anne Enright titles. Only last month I found a copy of 'The Green Road' too but I haven't yet started reading it. At one of the second hand book stalls I found a copy of ‘The Forgotten Waltz’ by Anne Enright and picked it up as the first of the set of three books I could buy for hundred rupees.

Another writer I enjoyed reading is William Trevor. I already have a copy of ‘Love and Summer’ by William Trevor but when I saw another copy of the same title I picked it up as the second book of the set. I want to give it to anyone who asks me to recommend a good book to read. I couldn’t find a third book to make up the set of three so I decided to buy a different book. I think it was my friend Jai who told me that Carl Muller’s books were funny. I saw a copy of ‘The Jam Fruit Tree’ by Carl Muller and bought it thinking of what Jai had told me. I hope I enjoy reading it.