The Sunday Haul (on 28-06-2026)

     The weather forecast for Sunday had said that it would be cloudy all day but it was bright and sunny almost all day, at least while I outdoors in the morning. I set out for Abids with a plan to pick up the two titles I had seen at Abids but did not pick up. But before reaching Abids I stopped at Chikkadpally and found a copy of '21st Century English Novel in India: Emerging Issues and Challenges' Ed: Jagdish Batra. Somehow nowadays I am reading such titles on criticism so I picked it up though I had to pay two hundred rupees for this hardcover title. 

    Though I have a copy at home I couldn't resist buying the almost new copy of 'Raag Darbari' by Shri Shukla that I saw with a seller. I bought so I can give it to someone who wanted to read the English version. Incidentally, I have two different editions of the original in Hindi that I am yet to read. I got this copy for fifty rupees. 

One title that I had seen the previous Sunday was the copy of 'Alpha Beta: How Our Alphabet Changed the Modern World' by John Man that, fortunately, no one had picked up. It is about the alphabet and how it made a difference in the modern world. I bought it because I need it for a project I am working on. I got it for a hundred rupees. 

        Luckily, the second title I had seen and not bought the previous Sunday was still on the table of the seller. I spotted the copy of 'Contemporary Indian Short Stories Series IV' of Sahitya Akademi and picked it up for a hundred rupees. I have the first three series that I had bought over the years long back. There are twenty one stories in various Indian languages translated into English. Some of the stories I've already read in other anthologies.