The Sunday Haul (on 26-01-2025)

 Though I missed the first day of Hyderabad Literary Festival on the 24^th of this month I attended on the last two days. Last day of the HLF happened to be on Sunday when I am at Abids no matter what. Since I couldn’t be at Abids and also HLF at the same time I solved this dilemma by going to Abids in the morning and to HLF in the afternoon. I had originally planned to give Abids a miss but I am glad I didn’t because I found three wonderful titles at Abids last Sunday.

            At a seller at RTC X-Roads on my way to Chikkadpally and thereafter to Abids I spotted a copy of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by John Kennedy Toole that I already have a copy of, and also have read. But this copy seemed to be an older edition with an attractive illustration on the front cover that had its top edge on the right torn off. It did not prevent me from buying it since I got it for just thirty rupees. 

        The next find was at Chikkadpally where coincidentally I had found a memoir by John Bernhard whose ‘Correction’ I found with the same seller last Sunday. I hadn’t read anything by Bernhard though I have read a lot about his books. So not wanting to miss out on a great book I picked it up for a hundred rupees. 

                The third and last find was at Abids. A long time back I had come across a copy of ‘On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India’ by Dervla Murphy that I was foolish enough to let go. Later when I read about it I felt bad and looked for it everywhere and thought I would find it at the second-hand bookstores in Bengaluru. But though I found other titles I did not find the Coorg book. So, when I saw a beautiful copy of ‘On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India’ by Dervla Murphy on the pavement I pounced on it. I got it for only fifty rupees.