The Sunday Haul (on 08-03-2026) and The Nagpur Haul

It was a pretty hot Sunday last Sunday in Hyderabad. It is a sign of how hot the coming weeks are going to be since it is not even officially summer yet. However since it has become a difficult habit to shake off I set out for Abids soon after breakfast. The haul last Sunday turned out to be titles I already have on my shelves.  

The previous Sunday I had seen a copy of 'The Imaginary Girlfriend: A Memoir' by John Irving but did not buy it since I had bought a copy long back. I had looked for it during the week as I needed to refer to it for a writing project I was working on but couldn't find it anywhere on my shelves. So last Sunday when I found it at the same place I picked it up. The only difference was that it had been in a Rs.50 the previous Sunday but last Sunday it was in a Rs.30 heap. 

Down the road with another seller at Chikkadpally I spotted a copy of 'From Heaven Lake' by Vikram Seth that too I already have read having found it a couple of years ago. But somehow I couldn't walk away leaving it behind because it was a good copy and so took it. I got this title for fifty rupees only. 

The Haul at Nagpur

Last week I was in Nagpur for two days. A college friend I've known since 1981 had invited me to his son's marriage and warned me that I had to come or else... Anyway, I had been looking for an excuse to leave Hyderabad for a couple of days so this came as a blessing. I was told that there were no proper second-hand bookstores in Nagpur but there were some sellers on the pavements on either side of a flyover at Zero Mile. I decided to check them out and was a bit excited wondering what I would find though I had no high expectations.

On Friday after the marriage was over in the morning I set off for Zero Mile in an electric auto. The driver, an old gentleman, asked me where I was from and I told him I was from Hyderabad. I also told him I was looking for the booksellers. So he kindly stopped at the spot where the sellers had their stalls. I found nothing on one side of the flyover and then crossed over to the other side. In a stall I asked to see inside and they let me in. There was a tall pile of books on a shelf and right on the top I spotted the title 'The Half Known Life' and felt excited when I saw the name 'Pico Iyer' beside it. It was a hardcover copy and somehow I was not aware of this title. 

I felt very lucky finding it and luckier still when I got it for just a hundred and fifty rupees. It was in good condition and I felt glad that I had managed to find a good book in Nagpur.