The Sunday Haul (on 25 October 2020)

Last Sunday turned out to be a festive one since the festival of Dasara fell on the same day. It meant that the shops were open and many sellers were not in their usual places. However they were all there on Sunday which happened to be bright and sunny after a long spell of rains. I got there before noon and commenced my usual round. I did not plan to buy many books and so tried not to be drawn by the many interesting titles I saw. But at one seller I saw a title that roused my curiosity beyond normal levels. I saw a copy of ‘Kulu’ by Penelope Chetwode. While leafing through the book I read that Penelope Chetwode’s husband was john Betjeman, the famous English poet. That was enough to make me grab the book apart from the fact that the book itself was about a place in India.

After I discovered WG Sebald and his books I wanted to read all that he had written. ‘The Rings of Saturn’ was the first book by Sebald that I found long back. Afterwards I found another copy of the same book and also came across ‘Austerlitz’ in Bengaluru a couple of years back. But I do not have his ‘Vertigo’ that I am yet to find. However, last Sunday while returning home from Abids I stopped to look at the books at Chikkadpally and spotted a copy of ‘The Emigrants’ by WG Sebald. This copy had a different cover than the copy I had found earlier. But that wasn’t the reason I bought it but to possess another copy of a book by a wonderful writer. I bought it for sixty rupees only.