The Sunday Haul (on 23-08-2026)

 

It had rained on Saturday night and early in the morning too it was cloudy as if it was going to rain later in the day. The forecast was for rain on Sunday as well as Monday. But somehow it did not rain though the sky was overcast all day. As usual I started off my trip to the Sunday second-hand book market at Abids with the first stop at Chikkadpally. But before walking to Chikkadpally I stopped at the seller in the corner at RTC Crossroads. 

I have only two titles on China, a country I wish to know about in detail especially its history.  I think it is a fascinating country to know more about so when I saw a copy of 'China: From the Opium Wars to the 1911 Revolution' by Jean Chesneaux, Marannie Bastid, Marie-Claire Bergere I picked it up. I had seen this title the previous Sunday but had not bought it feeling it was like a textbook. But last Sunday when I looked at closely and also skimmed through some pages I decided it was worth reading. 

Caste is what is keeping our country backward. I have about ten titles on caste by different authors that I picked up over the years but hadn't yet read. My plan is to read all the titles on different topics like China, the Middle East, Africa at one go so I can have a complete idea about the issue. I plan to read al the titles on caste at one time and keep adding titles whenever I find them. When I saw the copy of 'The Persistence of Caste: The Khairlanji Murders & India's Hidden Apartheid' by Anand Teltumbde whose essays I have read in newspapers, I picked it up though I had to shell out a hundred and fifty rupees for it. 

I do not remember where but I read that 'Njal's Saga' was a classic and did not think much about it as it was a book set in Iceland and also that I thought I wouldn't find. But last Sunday I was pleasantly shocked when I saw a copy of 'Njal's Saga', a 'Wordsworth Classics of World Literature' edition, and even more shocked when the seller said fifty rupees when I asked the price. 

After chai at 'Star of India' with a friend I stepped out to look at the titles with the seller just beside the cafe. I spotted 'Easy Riders Raging Bulls' by Peter Biskind with an eye-catching cover that I took out to take a close look, and then decided to buy it. I got it for a hundred rupees only. 

The Sunday Haul (on 16-08-2026)

 Another bright and sunny morning on the Sunday following Independence Day which might be a reason why there was a higher than average crowd at Abids browsing the books laid out on the pavement. 

But before reaching Abids I stopped at Chikkadpally and picked up a title I had seen the previous Sunday. I bought the copy of 'Annie John' by Jamaica Kincaid with an attractive cover. It is a slim novel.  

Next find was a copy of 'Screenplay: Foundations of Screenwriting' by Syd Field that I already have a copy of. I wanted to find out how much I would have to pay for it and asked the seller. When he said a hundred rupees I thought it was cheaper and so bought my second copy of this book. 

The best haul of Sunday was the copy of 'Modern India: 1885-1947' by Sumit Sarkar who had passed away earlier in the week. I had seen so many tributes to him on social media and I wondered why I had not heard much about him before. 

        A couple of years ago someone got in touch with me and asked if I would find a copy of 'Dibs in Search of Self' by Virginia M. Axline at Abids for her. Until then I used to see copies regularly but I searched for it in vain until I found it a few weeks later and sent it to her. Last Sunday when I saw another copy I decided to buy it and keep it with me in case someone else needed a copy. 

Some years ago I had found a copy of 'My Several Worlds' by Pearl S. Buck that I read and later got lost in my collection. I wanted to read it again but couldn't locate the copy so when I spotted another similar copy I picked it up. When I asked the seller how much it was he told me to pay whatever I wished to. This kind of thing puts me in a bind and I end up paying more than what I think the book is. I paid a hundred rupees for this old copy. 

'A little after I found Pearl S. Buck's autobiography I spotted the worlds 'Chinese Literature' June 1952' on the cover of a book on a makeshift shelf of a seller near the Bata store. I looked at it as it is very rare to find English versions of Chinese literature and so bought it. Inside there were pages of wonderful colour paintings. 

The Sunday Haul (on 09-08-2026)

         On Saturday night there was a heavy downpour that continued for a few hours and I thought it would go on raining on Sunday also. But luckily it didn't and it was a sunny and bright Sunday morning when I started for the second-hand book bazaar at Abids, in the heart of Hyderabad. But first I had to check out the sellers at Chikkadpally. At one of the seller I found a copy of 'The Sandglass' by Romesh Gunesekere that I picked up instead of the Jamaica Kincaid collection of stories that I had seen the previous Sunday and that I told myself I would pick up next Sunday. I hope it is there until then. 

        There are a few sellers at Abids with whom I have an occasional chat. Last Sunday one seller literarally pleaded with me to pick up at least one book from his pile spread on the pavement, and also pay whatever I wanted for it. It was an unusual request. He had also said that I hadn't bought anything from him since a long time so I decided to pick up one title. For a long time I had been seeing the copy of 'We Indians' by Khushwant Singh with him and I picked it up. 

        Another title I had seen a couple of months back and had failed to buy it was 'How to Be a Writer' by Ruskin Bond that I saw again in a bunch of books laid on a table and on sale for hundred rupees. I bought and a few minutes later found another copy with another seller, a good copy that I could have got cheaper. 

            I already have a copy of 'The Travels of Marco Polo', an Everyman Library hardcover edition that I had bought in 2025 I think but when I saw another copy with a beautiful dark blue cover with a painting on it I bought it. Not that it was in a heap of Rs.30 books near Bata but because of the cover. 

So this is how bibliophiles like me end up buying multiple copies!

The Sunday Haul (on 02-08-2026)

 The blog enters the second decade. I've completed nineteen years of this blog last Friday.

After a few days of cloudy weather and downpours in the city it was a bright and sunny morning in Hyderabad last Sunday. It was perfect weather for being outdoors. I set out for Abids after breakfast of a nice rava dosa in Snehitha restaurant under the RTC X Roads metro station. First stop was at Chikkadpally where I found all the four titles of the Sunday haul. 

The first title I found was a nice copy of 'Rethinking Democracy' by Rajni Kothari. I had heard Rajni Kothari's name since a long time but haven't read anything by him. So finding this book on democracy in India feels like a lucky find. 

Minutes later I spotted a copy of 'Nationalism without a Nation in India' by G. Aloysius, a new name for me. Described as 'a sociological interpretation of modern Indian history', it sounded too interesting to ignore. I bought it since I want to read it right away. I got these books for a hundred rupees each. 

An online friend had told me about finding the first edition copy of 'Himalayan Blunder: Curtain Raiser to the Sino-Indian War of 1962' by Brigadier J.P. Dalvi, and said it was a wonderful book. She also said it was a hard to find book so I did not expect it to find it soon and also I was rather uninterested in reading such stuff. Imagine my surprise when I saw the same book peeking out from behind another title with a seller in Chikkadpally. It was an almost brand new copy though it was a 1970 edition published by Natraj and also had a foreword by Frank Moraes. 

Right beside it was another interesting title that I picked up to check. It was a hardcover book with 'The Blood Telegram: India's Secret War in East Pakistan' by Gary J. Bass on the cover. I sensed it was a good book since there was a blurb on the front cover by Philip Gourevitch. I got these two books for five hundred rupees.