I wasn’t at home in Hyderabad for Diwali this year. I was in Delhi attending a two-phase, two week long training course. This year Diwali fell on Sunday and the only thing I do on Sunday is to go looking for books. That Diwali Sunday I decided to go to Mahila Haat in Delhi where the usual second hand book market was shifted from Daryaganj. As I reached Mahila Haat I wondered if there would be any book sellers out on a major festival and if I would find anything worth buying. It was my first visit to Mahila Haat so I had no idea how many sellers turn up every Sunday. That day I found not more than a dozen sellers and I ended up buying just one title. I picked up a title that I already have and the reason I bought it is that it came cheap.
More than ten years ago I had found a hardcover copy of ‘Bruce Chatwin’ by Nicholas Shakespeare. It had no jacket but I bought it. However, I did not read it but read another biography of Bruce Chatwin by Susannah Clapp that I found soon after. At one of the sellers at Mahila Haat I saw a heap of books selling for only twenty rupees and in that heap was this beautiful paperback copy of ‘Bruce Chatwin’ by Nicholas Shakespeare. I saw a copy of ‘The Song of India’ by Anees Jung that I foolishly thought I would pick up the following Sunday because I couldn’t find it when I went again the next Sunday.
There was another very interesting book I saw, a large sized, hardcover copy of ‘Answered by Flutes; Reflections from Madhya Pradesh’ by Dom Moraes. It was a coffee table book and was in bad condition with many of the pages having come loose and sticking out. I did not want to buy it though it would have been a great find. I had no space to carry it home and the condition of the book also dissuaded me from buying it.
I had another Sunday in Delhi and I decided I would visit Mahila Haat again the following week.
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