It had felt hotter the Sunday before than it was last Sunday at Abids. But it was hot enough to feel the need to wear a cap. Though it was uncomfortable being out in the hot sun the haul I made was pretty cool. I picked up four books one of which was a cookbook.
The first title I found was a Hindi title. I had resolved sometime back to read one Telugu and one Hindi book every year because I can read and write in these two languages and there is no point in knowing other languages without reading their literature. So when I spotted an old copy of ‘Shah aur Maat’ by Rajendra Yadav I picked it up. I remembered reading somewhere about ‘Saara Aakash’ by Rajendra Yadav and thought it might be a good idea to buy ‘Shah aur Maat’ that I got for just thirty rupees.
A few minutes later a bright yellow cover in a book shelf caught my eye. It was a good copy of ‘Monsignor Quixote’ by Graham Greene that I do not have. I do not remember reading about this title anywhere before so I grabbed it because I love reading anything by Graham Greene. Along with this I bought a nice copy of ‘Indian Cooking’ by Lalita Ahmed that had a large and attractive cover. I discovered that this book was published sometime back and was in quite a good condition.
Jan Morris is one of my favourite travel writers. Recently I found a copy of ‘Oxford’ that I had bought without a second thought and two Sundays before I had found a Penguin 60’s copy of ‘From the Four Corners’ that I had bought for just twenty rupees. Last Sunday at Abids I saw a copy of ‘Hav’ by Jan Morris in a lot selling for fifty rupees. I knew that this wasn’t a travel book in the real sense and had actually let go of this title when I had seen it earlier at the book fair. Last Sunday I couldn’t resist the price so took it.
The ‘Holi’ Haul
On Holi I had to go to the Institute because an international training was going on. Going to work on a holiday is something no one is happy about. I consoled myself saying I would drop in at MR Books on the way home if I could leave early. Luckily I could leave right after lunch and raced to MR Books. After an hour’s browsing I found a good copy of ‘JJ: Some Jottings’ by Sundara Ramaswamy, and bought it after reading the endorsement by K. Satchidanandan on the front which said: ‘One of the masterpieces of modern Indian fiction.’ I would have anyway bought it because I had read one of his books recently and knew how good Sundara Ramaswamy was.
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