The Sunday Haul (on 18/10/2020)

The wet spell in Hyderabad seemed never ending. It’s been raining and raining all the time since the past couple of weeks with short spells of dry weather. It did not rain in the morning last Sunday when I started for Abids.

In my early life I had nearly become a journalist. I still feel I would have made a good journalist though how I came to that conclusion I do not know. I like to read accounts by journalists of their trips, assignments, and experiences. I do not remember now how many such books by journalists I have but I do not fail to pick up such books whenever I come across them. Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a thick tome, and it was a copy of ‘The Ninety Nine Names of God’ by Judith Miller.

Since childhood I’ve tried to follow world events, and only now I am able to make sense of somethings that have been going on since then. However, the wars in the Middle East were something I didn’t quite understand so when I saw that ‘The Ninety Nine Names of God’ by Judith Miller was about the Middle East I felt excited that I had found something that would clear my confusion. It was a lengthy book, all of … pages and was thicker than the average brick. Nevertheless I bought it. I had to pay two hundred rupees for it but it appeared worth every rupee.

I remember seeing a lot about ‘Circe’ by Madeline Miller sometime back. However I forgot about the book and the hype around it until I came across a copy at Abids. I picked it up to take a closer look. It was an almost brand new copy and there were more than a dozen pages of blurbs at the front of the book. I decided to buy it and got it for a hundred rupees. I don’t know when I would find the time to read it but I am glad I took it.

I wasn’t at all surprised to see that the sellers put ‘Each book Rs 10’ written on pieces of cardboard that they places before heaps of books during the pandemic. There were two heaps with Rs 20 and Rs 30 boards. In the heap selling for thirty rupees I spotted a copy of ‘The Cape Cod Lighter’ by John O’Hara. I picked it up and saw that it was a collection of twenty three of his short stories: Appearances, The Bucket of Blood; the Butterfly; Claude Emerson, Reporter; The Engineer; The Father; The First Day; Jurge Dulrumple; Justice; The Lesson; Money; The Nothing Machine; Pat Collins; The Professors; A Short Walk from the Station; Sunday Morning; The Sun-Dodgers; Things You Really Want; Two Turtledoves; Winter Dance; The Women of Madison Avenue; You Don’t Remember Me; Your Fah Neefah Neeface.

Then in the next heap of books I saw a copy of ‘The Power and the Glory’ Graham Greene that I picked up not because I was getting it cheap but it is Graham Greene and I cannot resist anything by him.

The Sunday Haul (on 04/10/2020)

 

Last Sunday at Abids I realized how stupid I could be sometimes. The previous Sunday I had noticed a tall stack of titles with a seller. I had knelt on the ground and checked out the books one by one. I found titles by Julian Symons, Helen McInnes, Raymond Chandler, Kingsley Amis, Leslie Charteris, Allan Sillitoe- titles that I should have grabbed right away. But surprisingly, I did not feel like buying them and foolishly thought that I would find them the next Sunday i.e., last Sunday. So when I hurried to that seller praying that the books would still be there I was shocked when the seller told me they had all been sold!

I felt angry at myself, and in that state I went around Abids not buying books until a long time. Finally the disappointment wore off and I spotted my first title, a copy of ‘Passage to England’ by Nirad C Chaudhuri. I haven’t read anything by Nirad Chaudhuri so far and I am thinking of starting to read this book next.

At the next seller I picked up a copy of ‘The Chinese Assassin’ by Anthony Grey. The cover seemed attractive and promised to be a good read so I took it. I don’t know why but I seem to be coming across James M. Cain titles too often. Only a couple of weeks ago I had found a copy of ‘Double Indemnity’ at a store and last Sunday I came across another James M. Cain title- ‘Past All Dishonour’ by James M. Cain.

The last find was a nice copy of ‘Iris and Her Friends’ by John Bayley, Iris Murdoch’s husband. I had seen a copy earlier with another seller but he asked for an astronomical sum for it and so hadn’t bought it at that time. Now after a couple of months I have come across another copy that I bought at hundred rupees. It is a memoir of John Bayley about Iris Murdoch’s illness.

The Sunday Haul (on 20/09/2020)

While I’ve found a copy or two of Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Glass Key,’ ‘The High Window,’ ‘The Big Knockover,’ ‘The Dain Curse,’ ‘Woman in the Dark,’ ‘The Continental Op,’  and ‘Red Harvest’ I have almost half a dozen copies of ‘The Maltese Falcon’ that I found over the years. I just noticed that I have two copies of ‘The Continental Op’ and only one copy of the rest of the titles I have listed above. Last Sunday I found my second copy of ‘Red Harvest’ by Dashiell Hammett.

The weather hadn’t been too good all last week with intermittent rain and cloudy skies. On Sundayvtoo the sky was cloudy but it did not rain when I reached Abids. The forecast was for rain, and in fact I got a notification to expect rain at one in the afternoon. I wanted to make a quick round of all the sellers, pick up anything I found interesting and leave before it began to rain. But unfortunately or fortunately I did not see anything interesting and also did not find any of the titles I had planned to buy that I had failed to buy in the previous Sundays.

On the way back home I stopped at the first seller at Chikkadpally and hit a gold mine. I found a copy of ‘The Interpreters’ by Wole Soyinka that I felt I already have. I was not sure but I did not want to miss buying it so I picked it up. Then I saw the copy of ‘Red Harvest’ y Dashiell Hammett. The cover made me feel that I did not have this title so I bought it too. Later when I went home and checked I realized I already have these two titles though the copy of ‘Red Harvest’ had a different cover than the one on the first copy I had bought long back.

A Midweek Haul (on 16/09/2020)

Last Thursday I had to go to the office to catch up on some important paperwork. Since there are no fixed timings I planned to finish my quickly and leave early about an hour or so after lunch. I planned to drop in at the second book sale near the Jubilee Hills police station. I had been there earlier and had picked up a couple of books. I wanted to check out if there was anything else I could buy. So after lunch and some dawdling I left at four and stopped at the sale. It was cloudy and looked like it would rain hence I decided to take a quick look and leave.

In a section that said three books for hundred rupees I hit a gold mine. I found a copy of ‘Double Indemnity’ by James M. Cain. It was almost brand new. I had earlier bought a copy of ‘Mildred Pierce’ and also a tattered copy of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ a long time back at Abids. This was my third James M. Cain title. I was glad I found it and in fact I finished reading it yesterday. It is less than a hundred and thirty five pages and took me barely two hours to finish it.

Then I spotted a title that my heart jump. It was there, innocuous, on top of a pile of books laid around the perimeter of the table with other titles kept spine up. It was a beautiful copy of ‘All That Is’ by James Salter. I was excited as I leafed through the pages to find that all were intact and no page was missing. It was my fourth James Salter title after ‘A Sport and A Pastime’, ‘Burning the Days’ and ‘Light Years’ that was my most recent James Salter find. I was glad I had decided to stop to look at the books or else I would have missed finding this wonderful title. In fact I was getting the book for just a little over thirty rupees!

The next find in that pile was a copy of ‘The Quiet American’ by Graham Greene that I picked up though I already own a couple of copies of this title. I love everything by Graham Greene and buy all his works whenever I find them.

After I finished I realized I had spent more than an hour looking at the books. There were other titles I wanted to buy but I decided not to. I thought I would come some other time to pick them up. I realized that it had started to rain so I waited. Then I went around the store once again and spotted another title I immediately wanted to buy. It was a nice copy of ‘When a Crocodile Eats the Sun’ by Peter Godwin, a memoir set in Zimbabwe. It was for a hundred rupees but I bought it since I love memoirs, and anything even remotely connected to Africa.

I was terribly pleased about this unexpected haul and in that mood I ventured out though it was drizzling. I had put all the four books in a plastic cover that I put under the seat of my two wheeler. I thought it would be safe from the rain. Then I put my notebook, other papers, and a book I was currently reading in another plastic cover and put it in my bag. I forgot to cover the bag itself in another plastic hood that I usually carry in the bag. After I travelled some distance it began to rain very heavily. I stopped under the metro line that provided some cover. It was a heavy downpour and after waiting for some time I realized the rain wouldn’t stop. I did not want to wait until it was dark so I decided to go one despite the rain. I put on my rain coat and went into the rain. It was quite dangerous riding in the heavy rain, on the roads waterlogged. Though the traffic moved slowly there was no traffic jam. An hour later I was home totally drenched. When I took out the books my heart sank. Some of the books had got wet. I was very upset. I felt very guilty.  I had not taken enough care to protect the books. Many pages in ‘When a Crocodile Eats the Sun’ were wet. I had tears in my eyes after I saw the damage to the books. The only saving grace was that there was no damage to the James Salter book and also my notebook. My papers had some damage and also another book had moisture at the spine area.

After some time I had an idea. I took out the iron and ran it over the wet pages, page by page. It worked to some extent. The moisture dried up and the pages became dry and stiff. They all looked normal. I was able to prevent further damage but the books did not have the same shape. They looked puffed up. I felt bad but at least the pages were saved from further damage. This experience was a lesson. I decided I would do everything to prevent such a thing happening again. I will never let it repeat.

The Sunday Haul (on 13/09/2020)

 

It had rained a bit on Saturday and I was apprehensive about the weather on Sunday. The forecast said it would rain but though it was cloudy in the morning and drizzled for a brief period it didn’t rain when I started out for Abids. It did not rain as long as I was at Abids and managed to pick up three titles. But it began to rain when I was on half the way to home. I managed to find three titles.

Since a couple of Sundays I had been seeing a copy of ‘My Story’ by Kamala Das with a seller but thinking I had a copy of it I did not buy it. I couldn’t recollect buying it and couldn’t also locate the copy and decided I did not have it and so last Sunday when I found the copy of ‘My Story’ by Kamala Das I bought it. It is her autobiography, and quite candid.

Currently I am reading ‘Selected Essays’ by Graham Greene which has several wonderful and very perceptive essays on some writers and their works. I had read a series of essays on Henry James and was developed sufficient interest in his works that I decided to read at least one book by him. Last Sunday at Abids I came across a nice copy of ‘The Ambassadors’ by Henry James and bought it for just forty rupees. Somewhere else I saw a collection of his short stories but did not buy it.

My last find was a book by a diplomat- ‘Where My Caravan Has Rested’ by PL Bhandari. The writing looked quite good and not of that boastful variety that retired bureaucrats and diplomats usually adopt while writing about their time in the service. PL Bhandari seems to have travelled to quite a large number of countries as part of his job but the book isn’t very lengthy. I got it cheap for just twenty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 06-09-2020)

 

It was yet another bright and sunny morning last Sunday here in Hyderabad. I was at Abids eager to take home another haul of wonderful titles that I was yet to find. I had to also look for the titles I had missed buying the previous Sunday. Though I did not find all the title I had not bought earlier I managed to take home a haul of a record fourteen books last Sunday. The large haul filled my heart with a strange joy as I went home.

A long time back I had found a copy of ‘Paraja’ by Gopinath Mohanty. It was a tome running into hundreds of pages but I picked it up though I had not heard of the author before. However, I haven’t read ‘Paraja’ yet but when I saw ‘The Bed of Arrows and Other Stories’ by the same author- Gopinath Mohanty last Sunday at Abids I picked it up. It was a Sahitya Akademi publication and was a hardcover copy with the jacket. The introduction was by Sitakanta Mahapatra, an Odia poet I read. I got it for sixty rupees.

The same seller had another book titled ‘Vijay Tendulkar’ that I had seen the previous Sunday but hadn’t bought. I picked up the book and flipped the pages. There were a few essays but Vijay Tendulkar himself and articles on him by others. Vijay Tendulkar is the playwright of ‘Ghasiram Kotwal’ an acclaimed play so I decided to buy the book. This book too I got for sixty rupees.

Further down the road was the seller where I had seen a title I had not bough the previous Sunday. Luckily it was there and I picked up ‘The Gentleman in the Parlour’ by Somerset Maugham. I have a copy of it already but the cover is damaged so I bought this copy last Sunday since it had a good and undamaged cover. I got it for forty rupees.

There are many instances when I have picked up a book purely on a hunch. It was either the cover, the title, or the publisher that made me buy the book. I usually take a good look at all the books that have been made into movies. Last Sunday I came across one such title-‘A Fine Madness’ by Eliott Baker in a pile of books selling for twenty rupees only. On the back cover it said it was made into a movie starring Sean Connery and Joanne Woodward.

A couple of years back I had seen a copy of ‘Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter’ by Mario Vargas Llosa I stupidly did not buy it. I do not understand why I did not buy it though I knew Llosa was a fantastic writer and I should buy that book. Anyway, last Sunday I chanced upon a nice copy of ‘In Praise of the Step Mother’ by Mario Vargas Llosa in the same pile of books for twenty rupees.

There’s a seller in Abids to whom I offload all the books I’ve read and do not want to keep. In turn he keeps aside some titles that he’s got for me to take a look before he puts them on the pavement. Last Sunday he took out some titles from his sack and out of those I chose the following ones:

‘Notes from a Big Country’ by Bill Bryson. I realized I haven’t read this book and all these years I had thought it was another title of his ‘Lost Continent.’

‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen. I want to begin reading the classics with this title maybe.

‘The Heart of the Matter’ by Graham Greene. I already have a couple of copies of this title but bought it nevertheless.

‘Men at War’ edited by Ernest Hemingway. I haven’t heard about this book so I took it.

‘The Year of the Young Rebels’ by Stephen Spender. I bought it for the striking red cover and the title, apart from the fact that the author is Stephen Spender whose poetry I’ve been reading since a long time.

‘A Passage to India’ by EM Forster. This too I haven’t read so far. I have been meaning to read it but never found a good copy so I took it.

‘The Consolations of Philosophy’ by Alain de Botton. As one gets older it is to philosophy one turns to. I am 57, just the age to start reading philosophy, and besides I have always been fascinated by philosophy though it takes a pretty long time for me to grasp what is being said.

On the way home from Abids with a dozen titles in the haul and feeling smug I stopped at Chikkadpally to check out the wares of a seller. I had been looking high and low for a Naguib Mahfouz title since long. Only the other day I was reading ‘The Pillars of Hercules’ by Paul Theroux in which he writes about meeting Mahfouz just a few days after he had been stabbed. After reading it I was keen to find a title by Naguib Mahfouz, and last Sunday I finally spotted a copy of ‘Autumn Quail’ by Naguib Mahfouz. I was pretty thrilled to find that it was a novel about a young, corrupt bureaucrat which I am, a bureaucrat but not young or corrupt!

At another seller who sets up shop at a corner of the RTC X Roads I spotted a nice copy of ‘Lantern Slides’ by Edna O’Brien. It is a collection of twelve short stories by a master storyteller. I am very glad I stopped though I already had thirteen books in my bag. I would have missed this wonderful book if I had sped past without taking a look.

This is another record haul. I spent a total of five hundred and eighty rupees for these fourteen books which means roughly forty rupees per book.

The Sunday Haul (on 30-08-2020)

The Sunday before the last Sunday I had seen several interesting titles that I did not buy since I had bought enough. Last Sunday I planned to look for them and buy them if available. However I couldn’t find a single title that I had seen and either they had all been bought or they might not have made it to the pile. I wasn’t really heartbroken but disappointed. Sometimes I find them the following Sunday so I am not yet mourning for the loss of these titles one of which was a nice copy of ‘The Gentleman in the Parlour’ by Somerset Maugham. I already own a copy but the cover is a bit damaged. The copy I saw the other Sunday had a nice cover. I should have bought it. 

A few minutes after I had parked my two wheeler I spotted the first and only find in the Sunday Haul. I had been looking for this title since a long time and felt excited when at last I found it last Sunday. It was a beautiful copy of ‘From Heaven Lake’ by Vikram Seth. This was written after ‘A Suitable Boy’ I read somewhere inside. ‘From Heaven Lake’ is an account of Vikram Seth’s journey by foot from China to Delhi via Tibet sometime in the 1980’s when he was studying in China.  I was very pleased to find this title since on Friday I had found another title on Tibet at a second hand bookstore. I did not mind paying more than a hundred rupees for it.

On Friday last I had been to the office to catch up on some necessary paperwork, and to attend a meeting. On the way back home I stopped at a second hand bookstore in Khairatabad, the Unique Books store to see if there was anything interesting to pick up. The store has a nice collection and I like to drop in there at least once a month. I saw a copy of ‘Seven Sacred Rivers’ by Bill Aitken that I wanted to buy but when I saw a copy of ‘Tibet, Tibet’ by Patrick French I put it aside and bought Patrick French’s book. I want to read both these books one after the other to know what they thought of the places they went to and the people they met.

The Sunday Haul (on 23-08-2020)

After more than a week of almost continuous drizzle that dampened everyone’s moods it finally stopped around the weekend. The sun finally came out last Sunday and greatly improved the general feeling. Because of the rain I missed going to Abids the previous Sunday and since then I had been feeling a sense of restlessness. The gap of two weeks sharpened my longing to browse the pavements at Abids and I had hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t rain on Sunday. It didn’t thankfully and after breakfast I rushed to Abids.

Aside from the improvement in the weather there was also an improvement in the number of book sellers at the Sunday second hand book market at Abids. Except for just one seller all the booksellers were out with all their books spread on the pavements last Sunday. There seemed to be so many piles and heaps of books to dip into and I ended up buying half a dozen titles.

I had been eyeing a copy of ‘Your Blue Eyed Boy’ by Helen Dunmore that a seller had but did not buy it because the seller was someone I wouldn’t normally buy because of his uppity attitude. He thought he was the only one who sold good books. I had been seeing that title since more than two months and almost bought it from him last Sunday but backed out at the last moment. It was a decision that I was glad to have taken for I saw the same title with one of the friendliest bookseller at Abids who gave it to me at one fourth of the price that the earlier seller would have asked. The copy of ‘Your Blue Eyed Boy’ by Helen Dunmore that I got for only fifty rupees was in wonderful condition.

Graham Greene is one of my favourite authors and I do not miss buying anything by him that I find at Abids. I spotted a nice copy of ‘The Portable Graham Greene’ that I immediately grabbed. It was a collection of three novels, a few short stories, essays and was edited by Philip Stratford. I got this book for only forty rupees. Alongside it I found an old copy of ‘River and Bridge’ by Meena Alexander, a collection of poems. Meena Alexander is a fairly well known poet in India.

Further up with another seller I saw a copy of ‘The Chinese: Portrait of a People’ by John Fraser with a red cover. I had read ‘Riding the Iron Rooster’ by Paul Theroux, and also had a copy of ‘Behind the Wall’ by Colin Thubron that I hadn’t yet read though I found it long back. I also had a copy of ‘On a Chinese Screen’ by Somerset Maugham that I have read. John Fraser is a journalist who lived in China from 1977 to 1979 as a bureau chief of Toronto Mail and Globe.

The last find at Abids was a beautiful copy of ‘The Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro that I couldn’t resist buying though I already have a copy. When I wanted to read it I couldn’t locate my copy so I bought it. But this cost me a hundred rupees.

At Chikkadpally I saw a copy of ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser. I already have three copies of this title but couldn’t leave without buying the copy I saw last Sunday. It was a beautiful copy and I paid a hundred rupees for it.

One title that I consider a treasure in my collection is ‘The Saddest Pleasure’ by Moritz Thomsen that I found a few years ago and picked up on a hunch only to realize it was a fantastic book, and difficult to find. Then I read that Thomsen had written two more books of which I was desperate to find ‘Living Poor’ and since there appeared no chance that I would find it I looked for it online. I usually do not buy books online but this was one title I really wanted to read so I ordered it sometime last month. I received the book this week. I have never been so happy buying a book.

A Friday Haul and The Sunday Haul (on 09/08/2020)

Last Friday, after a short gap I again dropped in at the office to catch up on some paperwork. Since we are not maintaining regular office hours and can come and go anytime I left early after lunch. I did not feel like going home so early and coincidentally I was near a second hand bookstore when I had this thought. I decided to spend an hour browsing the shelves of the smallish bookstore. A few minutes after I checked the first shelves at the entrance I found a copy of ‘Miami Blues’ by Charles Willeford. A long time back, in February, 2009, I had, on a hunch, picked up a copy of ‘The Shark Infested Custard’ by Charles Willeford. Sometime later I learnt that Willeford was a major crime writer and his ‘Miami Blues’ was mentioned as one of his better titles. Anyway, I haven’t yet opened ‘The Shark Infested Custard’ and read it to find out how good it was. But I decided to buy the copy of ‘Miami Blues’ because it was only an uncorrected proof copy as it clearly said on the top of the cover.

Not very long ago I missed buying a beautiful title of Herodotus because I was a bit foolish thinking that no one would buy it. It was gone in no time and I have regretted it since. I found another title ‘Snakes with Wings & Gold-digging Ants’ by Herodotus a few moments after I had found ‘Miami Blues’ and I decided to buy it. It was

On Sunday, as usual, I was at Abids glad that it wasn’t raining. However the dark clouds in the sky above indicated that it would rain in a couple of hours. I hoped it wouldn’t rain while I was browsing. It did rain a little but after I had bought three titles.

The name ‘Balwant Gargi’ is burnt into my memory. I haven’t read any book by him but I remember he was the one who wrote ‘The Naked Triangle’ that I found last year.  A long time back I had appeared for the Civil Services preliminary exam and there was a question in the General Knowledge paper- ‘Balwant Gargi’ wrote, followed by four choices one of which was ‘The Naked Triangle’ that I ticked. It was the right answer I learnt later and was thrilled to know. That I did not get through the exam is another story.

The thing was I spotted a copy of ‘Purple Moonlight’ by Balwant Gargi. It was a memoir, not a novel. I flipped through it and found references to Mulk Raj Anand who was his friend and other things. I love to read memoirs and autobiographies especially by writers so I grabbed this book right away. I had the feeling that I had made a good start finding ‘Purple Moonlight’ by Balwant Gargi. Incidentally I paid only fifty rupees for it.

On top of a pile of books with another seller I saw a copy of ‘From the Holy Mountain’ by William Dalrymple that I hadn’t read. I have not seen any copies of this book at Abids so I wanted to take a closer look at it. Only recently I had finished reading ‘Balkan Ghosts’ by Robert D. Kaplan that left me with a desire to read about the Balkans and how the people there protected their religion, their churches. ‘From the Holy Mountain’ was something about the same but dealt more elaborately. It was the book I needed so I bought it.

Down below in the same pile the bottom portion of a book stuck out revealing the cover with the word ‘A great traveller, a woman of astute judgment and an extremely sensitive writer’ that made me pull out the book. I was thrilled to see it was ‘The Coast of Incense’ by Freya Stark. A long time back I had found a copy of ‘Ionia’ and also 'The Southern Gates of Arabia' by her that I found to be wonderful reads. I love to read travel literature, serious stuff by good writers, and finding ‘The Coast of Incense’ which was an autobiography, the third volume, made me elated. However, I wish I could find the remaining two volumes too.

The Sunday Haul (on 02/08/2020)

This is the first post of the 14th year of this blog. 

 Last Sunday I was glad to be back at Abids again after a week. The weekly visit to Abids to look for books is proving to be a kind of life-saver to me because otherwise I am at home without much to do except read, due to the Corona virus restrictions. Not many people are coming to Abids which is a sort of blessing in disguise because books I’ve missed buying on one Sunday are still there on the next Sunday. However I haven’t missed buying anything the previous Sunday but last Sunday I picked up four more books.

 The first find was a nice copy of ‘The Art of Living- Epictetus’ by Sharon Lebell that I have bought several copies of in the past. I like to give away this book as a gift to friends and people I meet who I think might benefit from the wonderful advice in this book. I got this copy for just thirty rupees. 

 There are a couple of sellers who have heaps of books selling for fifty rupees each. One seller’s heap has been a regular source of some good titles I’ve bought in the past couple of Sundays. This Sunday too the heap yielded two more titles. 

 The first was a copy of ‘The Poison of Love’ by KR Meera that I had read about a lot. It was a hardcover copy. I am planning to read this next because I had read only high praise of KR Meera.

 The other title from the fifty rupee heap was a copy of ‘The Monkey King’ by Timothy Mo. I have heard of his name but this is the first title of his that I have seen. I don’t know when I will find the time to read it but I have bought it. 

 The last buy with another seller was a copy of ‘The Anatomy of Prose’ by Marjorie Boulton.