The Sunday Haul (on 13/09/2020)

 

It had rained a bit on Saturday and I was apprehensive about the weather on Sunday. The forecast said it would rain but though it was cloudy in the morning and drizzled for a brief period it didn’t rain when I started out for Abids. It did not rain as long as I was at Abids and managed to pick up three titles. But it began to rain when I was on half the way to home. I managed to find three titles.

Since a couple of Sundays I had been seeing a copy of ‘My Story’ by Kamala Das with a seller but thinking I had a copy of it I did not buy it. I couldn’t recollect buying it and couldn’t also locate the copy and decided I did not have it and so last Sunday when I found the copy of ‘My Story’ by Kamala Das I bought it. It is her autobiography, and quite candid.

Currently I am reading ‘Selected Essays’ by Graham Greene which has several wonderful and very perceptive essays on some writers and their works. I had read a series of essays on Henry James and was developed sufficient interest in his works that I decided to read at least one book by him. Last Sunday at Abids I came across a nice copy of ‘The Ambassadors’ by Henry James and bought it for just forty rupees. Somewhere else I saw a collection of his short stories but did not buy it.

My last find was a book by a diplomat- ‘Where My Caravan Has Rested’ by PL Bhandari. The writing looked quite good and not of that boastful variety that retired bureaucrats and diplomats usually adopt while writing about their time in the service. PL Bhandari seems to have travelled to quite a large number of countries as part of his job but the book isn’t very lengthy. I got it cheap for just twenty rupees.