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.
1 comment:
Vinod bhai, please post the list of books you plan to read this year. Would like to know.
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