The Sunday Haul (on 14-04-2019)

It would have been a forgettable Sunday had I not found a book at the last moment last Sunday at Abids. The sun was at its usual ‘Very Hot’ setting with the temperature hovering somewhere around 39 degrees. I wondered if it was such a good idea to be out in the open on a hot day looking for old books. I was beginning to feel tired of the whole thing when I spotted an interesting title in a heap of books selling for twenty rupees only. I found a copy of ‘The Schirmer Inheritance’ by Eric Ambler that I decided to buy. A long time ago I had found ‘Here Lies Eric Ambler’ his autobiography that was the first book by Eric Ambler that I read even before I read anything else by him. I want to reread it.

Yesterday (Thursday) there was an event at our Institute so I had to stay back in the evening after office hours. I had a couple of hours to kill so I decided to go to Madhapur to see what the techies were up to after the Metro had begun running. I could see that things were no different here since there was the usual traffic madness on the roads- motorists coming on the wrong side of the road, guys not wearing helmets, overcrowded autorickshaws, and two wheelers with one digit on the number plate hidden or defaced to escape being caught by the traffic cops. Anyway, there was a bookstore- Liberty Books- that I wanted to check out. So after eating ‘Muntha Masala’ in a lane and chai I went to the book store.

There were other titles I wanted to pick up but gave up the idea after I spotted a good copy of ‘If You Can’t Be Good’ by Ross Thomas. Ever since I found a copy of ‘The Fools in Town Are On Our Side’ by Ross Thomas sometime in 2014 I’ve been trying to find and read all his titles. I have managed to find nearly half a dozen titles including ‘Missionary Stew’ but I have not yet found some of his best and well known titles like ‘The Cold War Swap,’ ‘Briarpatch,’ and ‘The Seersucker Whipsaw.’ I hope to find them so soon or else I may have to get them online which I don’t want to do yet. I got ‘If You Can’t Be Good’ for seventy five rupees which is reasonable.