The Haul at the 33rd Hyderabad National Book Fair

I have made it a habit of going to the annual Hyderabad book fair on the first day itself in the hope of picking up good books long before anyone could get to them. This year too I was there on the first day of the 33rd Hyderabad National Book Fair at the NTR Stadium on Monday evening. Most of the stalls were up and the shelves filled with books in the few second hand book stalls I visited. I could pick up only four titles and that left me quite relieved since I had expected to return home with more than a dozen books.

I have managed to find and read most of Graham Greene’s titles but there are a few titles I couldn’t find all these days. When I saw a nice copy of ‘The Tenth Man’ by Graham Greene at a second hand book stall put up by someone from Mumbai I bought it. I got it for hundred rupees. The prices this year are almost the same as they were last year. The crowd too was a good one.

The second title I found was a book set in Africa. I never miss buying any book on Africa so I when I saw a copy of ‘I Dreamed of Africa’ by Kuki Gallmann I decided to buy it. It was a Penguin title and was in quite good condition. This was slightly expensive at a hundred and fifty rupees.

The third title was an old copy of ‘Poetry and Experience’by Archibald MacLeish. Inside the pages I found a poem written a piece of paper by someone who was perhaps attempting to be a poet. I bought this book for a hundred rupees.

The last title was a wonderful find. I spotted a copy of ‘The Children of Dynemouth’ by William Trevor. It was an almost brand new copy and I got it for a hundred rupees. Inside the pages I found a British Rail ticket someone seems to have used as a bookmark.

The Sunday Haul (on 15-12-2019)

With the most awaited event of the year, the Hyderabad National Book Fair, not more than two weeks away, last Sunday I was wondering whether I should go to Abids and bring home more books. I told myself that the finding books at the Book Fair is one and finding books at Abids is another thing and thus convinced I went to Abids.

Since a long time I had been waiting to find books by Surendra Mohan Pathak, who, I’ve read, is one of the most prolific and bestselling novelist in Hindi. I had come across copies of his books translated into English but I did not buy them since I wanted to read the original ones in Hindi. Last Sunday I found two titles by him, both in Hindi. I picked up a nice copy of ‘Pyaada’ by Surendra Mohan Pathak and got it for thirty rupees. Though I can read Hindi, my second language in high school, I cannot understand some words. I have no idea what ‘Pyaada’ means but I hope to find the meaning after reading the book.

A couple of years ago I came across a copy of ‘The Burden of Democracy’ by Pratap Bhanu Mehta that I gave away to Umashankar. Last Sunday I found another copy that I immediately grabbed. I need not have been so hasty since I saw another copy of the same book. The book is something I need to read to understand the mystery that our democracy is.

The last find was a nice copy of ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark, a Penguin edition. I got it for only thirty rupees.
The friendly bookseller at Abids who gives me a free pass to the Hyderabad Book Fair every year gave me another one. Habeeb is the name and he sits in the Hollywood shoes lane with a small collection of books. Though I haven’t bought many books from him he makes it a point to give me that pass and his gesture fills me with gratitude.

The Sunday Haul (on 08-12-2019)

I have to confess here that sometimes I become nervous thinking about all the books I have with me. I am overwhelmed by the thought that I may not have the time to read all of them even if I live to be seventy or more. That is, if I do not buy any more books and read only those that I have managed to pick up. Last Sunday I had picked up seven books at Abids and this Sunday I managed to pick up only three, thank god.

Ever since I read ‘Stet’ by Diana Athill I’ve become a fan of her writing and managed to find a couple of her memoirs. At Abids last Sunday I found another title by her- Make Believe. It was a brand new copy with a plastic wrapping around it that I bought for two hundred rupees. Since it was a brand new copy and a Diana Athill title I did not mind paying so much for the book though I wonder how the book got there.

Though I am not much of a movie watcher some movie titles are such that one cannot forget them. One such movie title is ‘Midnight Cowboy’ that stayed in my mind all these years, and last Sunday I found the actual novel- ‘Midnight Cowboy’ by James Leo Herlihy. I spotted it in a heap and bought it though the cover and the spine weren’t in such a good condition. I got it for thirty rupees.

The next title was one I picked up on a hunch. It was a nice copy of ‘Murder as Usual’ by Hugh Pentecost published by Keyhole Crime. It appeared interesting so I bought it. I got this one too with the same seller where I bought ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and got it at thirty rupees.

Bookstore news: The Bests Books branch at YMCA, Secunderabad has been shut down. An eatery has come up in its place!

The Sunday Haul (on 01-12-2019)

The Sunday before last Sunday I missed the weekly hunt for books at Abids. There were some important guests coming over so I was ordered not to step out of the house that Sunday. But last Sunday I went to Abids and made for the Sunday before picking up six good titles. I came home with six books taking my haul of books so far this year to 196. There are still four Sundays to go before the year ends not to forget the Hyderabad Book Fair beginning a day before Christmas. It means at least another dozen books are likely to be added to the year’s haul that will cross the 200 figure again.

There’s a mix of reasons why I picked up ‘Khushwant Singh’s India; A Mirror for its Monsters and Monnstrosities’ by Khushwant Singh last Sunday at Abids. Firstly, I like to read analytical essays by intelligent observers. Secondly a curiosity to know how some problems have grown over the years in the country, and thirdly, I am attracted to books published in the country in the late sixties and early seventies. The last reason is a desire to know how Indian writers present the country and its problems to the Western reader. All these made me buy this title within moments of finding it with a seller who gave it to me for only thirty rupees.

The next book I found was of a similar vintage but a fiction title. I found a bound copy of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ that I did not look at closely when I first saw it. I already own a nice copy but something about the cover and the overall appearance of the book made me pick it up for a better look. My interest grew when I noticed that it was published by Prentice Hall in 1973. The font was one that almost universal in the country during that time which I found to be quaintly charming. What really made me buy it was the name of the person stamped on the front page. The name was- Syed Shahid Raza, Lieutenant 4112-Z, Indian Navy. The copy was from the American Library at USIS Calcutta. What a long journey that this copy of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ in my hands must have made over the years.

The next two finds were two cookbooks that I found one after the other though with different sellers. When I saw a decent copy of Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘A Taste of India’ in a pile of fifty-rupee books I couldn’t resist buying it though I already own a copy that I found quite recently.

The other cookbook was a beautifully preserved copy of ‘Classic Indian Cooking’ by Julie Sahni that I grabbed off the pavement the moment I spotted it. It was published first by ‘Grub Street’ London in 1997, and reprinted in 2008 in India. I got it for only seventy rupees though the book runs into nearly 450 pages and has some beautiful illustrations.

With the same seller I found two more wonderful titles. I had resolved to read all titles by Charles McCarry after I read his ‘Tears of Autumn’ that I had picked up on a hunch some years ago. Over time I found his other titles like ‘Second Sight’, ‘The Better Angels,’ ‘The Miernik Dossier,’ and ‘The Last Supper.’ So last Sunday when I saw a nice copy of ‘The Secret Lovers’ by Charles McCarry I was pleased with myself.

The other titles was a hardcover book with a jacket and appeared like a library copy. It is only a few years for my retirement, less than five years in fact. Naturally, thoughts of retirement have replaced other thoughts in my mind and the foremost thought is what I should do after retiring. The things I could do after my retirement range from finally beginning to write seriously to going back to the small town where I was born to live a quiet life with my collection of books. Of course, there are always new things getting added frequently- travelling, living on a farm, learning something that would keep me occupied and so on. So when I spotted a book with the title ‘taking retirement- a beginner’s diary’ in small letters I was curious about it. The author was Carl H. Klaus who, I read on the inside of the back cover, was the founder of the non-fiction writing program at Iowa University. I needed no other reason to buy it. This book I will certainly read before I retire.

The last title was a children’s book. I picked it up because it looked like something good. It was a copy of ‘Wandy and the Bumbly Wizard’ by James Flora who also illustrated the book.

The Delhi Haul-4

The last day of my two-week trip to Delhi was a Sunday and since my flight home was sometime in the night I decided to check out the second hand book market at Mahila Haat once again. I hoped that there would be more sellers than were on my last visit the previous Sunday. As expected there were about two dozen sellers or more with their books neatly arranged or haphazardly strewn around for the buyers to look. There were some sellers on the pavement just outside Gate 3 of Delhi Gate Metro station and it was here that I found my first title of that day’s haul. It was a copy of ‘My Place’ by Sally Morgan that I picked up after I read on the cover that it was an ‘Australian Classic.’

Sometime early this year on a visit to Delhi I had been to the second hand book market at Darya Ganj. The first title I had found was a nice copy of ‘The War Against Cliché’ by Martin Amis. I had got it pretty cheap at fifty rupees. I saw another copy of the same title and since I was reading it back at home I decided to buy this copy too because it was too precious a book to be left behind. However this copy was a bit expensive; I paid hundred rupees for it.

The next find was a copy of ‘The Man Within’ by Graham Greene that I don’t remember having in my collection. I was glad to find it and I got it for hundred rupees.

The last title I found was a copy of ‘The High Road’ by Edna O’Brien that I got for only thirty rupees. But as expected I was unable to locate the copy of Anees Jung’s ‘Song of India’ that I had not had the sense to pick up on my previous visit.

The Sunday Haul (on 17-11-2019)

Last Sunday at Abids I found a title that I had been searching for since a long time. ‘The Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk was the title and though I had come across it recently at Jacksons Books in Pahargunj on a visit sometime during this year I did not buy it because the seller was asking for nearly four hundred rupees for the copy he had. At another time I saw a copy that was in a very bad condition and I did not feel like buying it. I had given up hope of finding a good and affordable copy so when I found it last Sunday at Abids I felt very glad. I was glad I did not buy the expensive copy I saw at Jacksons Books.

The copy of ‘The Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk that I found at Abids was in an absolutely beautiful condition and looked almost new. I got it for hundred rupees which I paid unhesitatingly though I thought it was a bit on the higher side by Abids’ standards. Nevertheless I was terribly pleased with myself for having spotted the book and buying it.

The Sunday Haul (on 10-11-2019)

Having missed my weekly visits to the Sunday book market at Abids for three consecutive weeks last Sunday I was back home and very, very eager to go there. Though at Delhi where I was for more than a fortnight I had picked up nearly twenty books, and also two books only the previous day I was looking forward to find at least one good title at Abids later in the day. Ultimately, I ended up finding three good titles in the haul.

Almost a decade ago I found a copy of ‘rude food’ by Vir Sanghvi at Abids. It wasn’t in a good condition with moisture stains and a faint coating of dried up moss or something like that. I bought it for Vir Sanghvi’s writing but though it was good the copy I found wasn’t good enough for me so I gave it away half way through the book. I was certain that I would find a better copy soon. But after nine long years I came across a beautiful copy last Sunday and picked it up. I enjoy food not by eating it but by reading about it.

In the same way I also like to read accounts by people who have led other lives and decide to live the farm life by taking up farming. It also happens to be something I too want to try out after I retire which isn’t too far away. But I haven’t yet gathered courage to take the jump. Though I’ve studied agriculture in college and also worked in the department it doesn’t help much because knowledge is one thing and actual experience an entirely different thing. Farming in India isn’t anything like it is written about. It takes a lot to be a farmer in India. Anyway I have read a few books on the farm life and when I came across a beautiful copy of ‘The Dirty Life’ by Kristin Kimball I bought it.

As with farming, so with dogs. Though I don’t keep a dog I do follow shows about dogs on television. I had watched ‘Dog Whisperer’ on TLC and was quite fascinated by the behaviour of dogs and how people like Cesar Millan teach people to handle their dogs. Last Sunday I saw a nice copy of ‘Cesar’s Rules’ by Cesar Millan and bought it just to learn more.

A Saturday Haul

After returning from Delhi with a haul of around dozen books I found that I had missed the book scene in Hyderabad so decided to drop in at the Lakdi-ka-pul branch of Best Books. It was a holiday because of the second Saturday and I had a bit of time to kill so I decided to do it at the book store. I thought I’d just take a look but as usual I took a look and also took a couple of books back with me.

There are few writers in Hyderabad and even fewer poets, so few that you can count their number on the fingers of one hand. This in a city of a couple of million. One such poet among us millions of ordinary people is Sridala Swami. My only complaint about her is that she’s written only two volumes of poems. I wish she would write more but the problem is you cannot force poetry out of anyone. It took me more than a decade to find her second collection titled ‘Escape Artist’ that I found last Saturday. There are more than forty finely crafted poems in four sections in this collection.

One writer I can never have enough is Arun Joshi. I have multiple copies of almost all his novels and I picked another beautiful copy of ‘The Strange Case of Billy Biswas’ at Best. The only Arun Joshi title I do not have is ‘The Survivor’ which is a collection of his short stories. I wonder how long I have to wait, and how many bookstores to search before I find this elusive title. Wish me luck, please.

Post 3 of 4: The Delhi Haul-3

On the first of November the two week training course I was attending came to an end. It was a Friday and back at my brother’s home in CR Park I read that there was a literary event the next day at IGNCA. On Saturday one of the programmes was a talk with three Sri Lankan writers, and it turned out I had read books written by these three writers. I had ‘Reef’ by Romesh Gunasekera, ‘Serendipity’ by Ashok Ferrey, and I had not only read two novels (The Amazing Racist’ and ‘Panther) by Chhimi Tenduf La I had also exchanged mails with him when he wrote to me after coming across my blog. So I decided to go the next day as I had nothing much to do.

On Saturday I reached IGNCA and it was like a carnival. There were bookstalls selling Hindi books. I decided to check out the books since there was a title I was looking for after I read about it somewhere in Caravan, I guess. It was ‘Naukar ki Kameez’ by Vinod Kumar Shukla and I found it in a stall. If I managed to read the book it would be the third Hindi novel that I would be reading. Later while flipping through the book I discovered that Vinod Kumar Shukla had done his M.Sc (Ag). I felt a minor thrill since I too had done my M.Sc (Ag) which made me resolve to read was ‘Naukar ki Kameez’ by Vinod Kumar Shukla one of these days.

The talk with the three Sri Lankan writers was in an auditorium. Before coming to IGNCA I had gone to Oxford Book Store in Connaught Place hoping to buy ‘Sun Catcher’ by Romesh Gunesekera and get it signed by the author. But I was disappointed to discover that OBS did not have titles by any of these three writers. However, there was a stall in IGNCA beside the auditorium where I found copies of ‘The Professional’ by Ashok Ferrey, ‘Loyal Stalkers’ by Chhimi Tenduf La and ‘Sun Catcher’ by Romesh Gunesekera. After the one hour talk I approached Chhimi Tenduf La first and got his book signed and also chatted with him for a while, and I did the same with Ashok Ferrey. Finally, I approached Romesh Gunesekera who put me at ease by asking me what I did and where I lived. He told me he had visited Hyderabad some time back and I wondered how I had missed it. Anyway he was gracious and signed on the copy of his book. I felt very pleased that my otherwise boring official trip to Delhi ended with this icing on the cake.

Post 2 of 4: The Delhi Haul-2

I wasn’t at home in Hyderabad for Diwali this year. I was in Delhi attending a two-phase, two week long training course. This year Diwali fell on Sunday and the only thing I do on Sunday is to go looking for books. That Diwali Sunday I decided to go to Mahila Haat in Delhi where the usual second hand book market was shifted from Daryaganj. As I reached Mahila Haat I wondered if there would be any book sellers out on a major festival and if I would find anything worth buying. It was my first visit to Mahila Haat so I had no idea how many sellers turn up every Sunday. That day I found not more than a dozen sellers and I ended up buying just one title. I picked up a title that I already have and the reason I bought it is that it came cheap.

More than ten years ago I had found a hardcover copy of ‘Bruce Chatwin’ by Nicholas Shakespeare. It had no jacket but I bought it. However, I did not read it but read another biography of Bruce Chatwin by Susannah Clapp that I found soon after. At one of the sellers at Mahila Haat I saw a heap of books selling for only twenty rupees and in that heap was this beautiful paperback copy of ‘Bruce Chatwin’ by Nicholas Shakespeare. I saw a copy of ‘The Song of India’ by Anees Jung that I foolishly thought I would pick up the following Sunday because I couldn’t find it when I went again the next Sunday.

There was another very interesting book I saw, a large sized, hardcover copy of ‘Answered by Flutes; Reflections from Madhya Pradesh’ by Dom Moraes. It was a coffee table book and was in bad condition with many of the pages having come loose and sticking out. I did not want to buy it though it would have been a great find. I had no space to carry it home and the condition of the book also dissuaded me from buying it.
I had another Sunday in Delhi and I decided I would visit Mahila Haat again the following week.