Last Sunday, once again, I was alone at Abids and ended up finding four good titles on a morning when it wasn’t too hot to be outdoors. Though the sun was out it wasn’t uncomfortable with a cap on the head. The first title I found was a wonderful book. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Mother of 1084’ by Mahashweta Devi on the pavement and picked it up to take a look. I have come across a few copies of this title but hadn’t bought any for some reason. But last Sunday I decided to buy the copy I found. I don’t know when I will find the time to read but I will read it one day. I got it for thirty rupees.
Another interesting find was ‘The Use and Abuse of Literature’ by Marjorie Garber that I saw with another seller. I did not buy it right away and asked the seller to keep it aside. Luckily he did not have the change for the five hundred rupee note I had and I told him I would pick it up which would give me time to decide whether to buy it or not. But in the end I bought it for a hundred rupees.
The third find in the haul on Sunday was a copy of ‘The Song of Anasuya’ by Uma Vasudev. It appeared like one of those titles published in the sixties-seventies. It was a small sized, slim book not more than a hundred and fifty pages. I hadn’t heard of the author and thought it would be an interesting read and bought it for just thirty rupees.
The fourth and last find of the haul on Sunday was a book by an author I would have had an idea about had I been a keen follower of movies. The movie ‘Schindler’s List’ directed by Spielberg is a classic but I haven’t watched it. I know that’s stupid but now I know that the movie is based on a book of the same name written by Thomas Keneally, an Australian writer. Peter Carey, Helen Garner, and recently Ray Eriksen are some of the Australian writers whose books I had read but I wasn’t aware of Thomas Keneally until last Sunday. I was drawn to a book that I instinctively knew was a book worth picking up when I saw the attractive cover. It was a copy of ‘Season in Purgatory by Thomas Keneally that was with a seller who does not know the value of the books he sells. I got this wonderful title for just twenty rupees.
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