The Sunday Haul (on 20/12/2020)

Happy Christmas!

It was a bright and sunny morning on Sunday when I reached Abids. The weather in Hyderabad is wonderful at this time of the year though it is a bit cold the sun is always out and the mornings are warm and bright. The previous Sunday I had seen two titles that I wanted to buy but the prices the seller quoted put me off. Later I felt I should have paid whatever he had asked and picked up the books, and had regretted I had not done so.

Last Sunday I thought the first thing I would do was to pick up those two books. Fortunately no one had bought them probably because the seller is a bit far away from the usual places. I picked up the nice copy of ‘The Global Soul’ by Pico Iyer that was the first title I had not picked up the previous Sunday. It had a striking cover with colourful ballpoint pens on it. I already have a copy of ‘The Global Soul’ though with a different cover but I bought this copy for its good condition and attractive cover.

The second title I had missed the previous Sunday was the copy of ‘At Play in the Fields of the Lord’ by Peter Matthiessen that was almost new. Except ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen that I had read almost half a dozen times I had not read anything else by Matthiessen. So finding this title had me pretty excited. I got these two titles for three hundred and fifty rupees, a steep price but totally worth it I guess.

Even before I found these two titles there was another book I came across- a copy of ‘Journals’ by Robert Falcon Scott, an account of Captain Scott’s Last Expedition based on the journals maintained by Captain Scott. It is a thick volume and I think this is my second book about the explorer. Earlier I had found a copy of ‘The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, an account of Scott’s last Atlantic Expedition.

Hyderabad Book Fair news

A prominent seller at the Abids book bazaar gave me some good news. When I asked him if the Hyderabad Book Fair was as good as cancelled he gave me the good news that it was likely that the Book Fair would be held in February. Hearing it lifted my spirits because I had almost given up hope that the Book Fair would not be held at all due to the pandemic. I am really looking forward to more news about the Hyderabad Book Fair soon. 

The Sunday Haul (13/12/2020)

Last week there was another minor flood of books. I bought six books all in a matter of a few days. On Saturday, a holiday being a second Saturday I dropped in at the Unique bookstore in Lakdikapul-Khairatabad road. On an earlier visit I had spotted a book that I could not buy for some reason. On Saturday I noticed it was still available on the shelf. It was a nice copy of ‘Seven Sacred Rivers’ by Bill Aitken, a book I had read a long time ago and lost somewhere. I think it was more than twenty years since I last read it and felt some kind of attachment to the title. I wanted to read it again so I picked it up.

The next day, Sunday that is, I was at Abids as usual. I was glad to find that the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kavery Nambisan I had mulled about buying for about three weeks was there with the same seller. I got it for just fifty rupees. But I do not know when I would take it out to read, maybe sometime next year.

A long time ago, almost thirty years ago, I decided to become a writer and started jotting down ideas, random quotes and also titles of books I came across in books I read. Luckily for me I managed to hold on to these notebooks though I did not write much except a few short pieces. In one of those notebooks I had noted down the title ‘People Who Say Goodbye’ by P.Y. Betts. I remember the name of the author because I go through those notebooks now and then. Anyway, when I saw a copy of People Who Say Goodbye’ by P.Y. Betts I got the shock of my life. I did not expect to find it and therefore was excited that I found a book whose title I had noted down just out of curiosity and not with the intention of reading it. It was a beautiful, almost new copy that I got for a hundred rupees. Afterwards in the evening when I took out the notebook I saw that I had read about ‘People Who Say Goodbye’ by P.Y. Betts.in Dirk Bogarde’s ‘For the Time Being’ that was a sort of memoir. It was sometime in 2003 that I had read ‘For the Time Being’ and I still have the copy with me.

 

At a seller in Chikkadpally I found a copy of ‘French Lessons in Africa’ by Peter Biddlecombe. Earlier I had seen another title by the same author- that I did not think much of and hence did not buy. But when I read the word ‘Africa,’ one of my favourite parts of the world, and saw that it was a travel book I immediately bought it.

A bookseller I bought books from online led me to two WhatsApp groups of bookseller who conduct online sales and auctions of books. I joined and within days took part in an auction. I bid hard for a copy of ‘The Great Railway Bazaar’ by Paul Theroux that had a great cover and that seemed a first edition. I have a couple of copies of this title but not the one in the auction. I had to pay a steep amount to get this book for which many bibliophiles were bidding but in the end I got it.

In the same auction was a nice copy of ‘Portrait of India’ by Ved Mehta. It was a hard copy. Again I wanted it badly so I bid and outbid all of them to get it. Quite a drain on the wallet but I had two great titles after the auction ended. It was the first ever auction I took part in and I was quite excited that I got such good books.

The Sunday Haul (06-12-2020)

The previous Sunday due to a political rally the cops did not let the book sellers set up their wares on the pavements of Abids. Last Sunday they were back in full strength. I hoped to find a nice title or two but I landed only one book. I saw the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kavery Nambisan as wel as the copy of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ by  James M.Cain that I had seen a couple of weeks ago and that I had been planning to buy, at the same place. However last Sunday too I did not pick them up for some reason I am unable to fathom. I went around looking at the books and putting them back. I saw a nice hardcover copy of a book on Indian birds that was really good and that I should have picked up right away. But I did not take it and later regretted it.

However, with the same seller I saw a copy of The Infinite Plan’ by Isabel Allende on another shelf. I had missed buying titles by Isabel Allende I saw at Abids and later realized she has a large following. I did not want to miss this title and got it for a hundred rupees. With another seller I saw a nice copy of ‘Neither Here Nor There’ by Bill Bryson in a transparent plastic cover. I did not buy it though I wanted to buy it because the seller was a guy who asks for astronomical prices. I looked at it from afar and walked on, quietly glad that I did not have to wrestle with the seller over the price because I already have a copy.  

The saddest thing about 2020 is that the ‘Hyderabad Book Fair’ will not be held at all. It is held in December and by this time I would have been eagerly waiting for it. How I miss it!

The Sunday Haul (on 29/11/2020)

 As Abids came closer the number of traffic policemen on the road seemed to increase.  Then I noticed the barricades and realized that some VIP was traveling on the road. What I did not know was that it was something else.  The usual booksellers on the pavement of the main road along with the people who sold readymade clothes from pushcarts and tables on the edge of the road were absent. Later while parking the bike I remembered about the political rally that was to pass on the route. So the traffic cops hadn’t allowed any seller, vendor on the road the rally was supposed to pass. I was a bit disappointed since I had planned to pick up some titles I had missed buying the previous Sunday.

However in a lane I found the sellers who usually set shop there. In one of the piles I found an Orient Paperbacks title. Somehow I have developed this fascination for Orient Paperback titles by obscure and little-known writers published in the 60’s and 70’s. Writers like Leena Dhingra, Mayah Balse, and others. The book I saw had an arresting cover in read with an equally arresting title- ‘Assignment in Kashmir’ by Aamir Ali. I bought it for forty rupees. That was the only find at Abids but at another place I found the second title of the day.

At the seller who spreads his pile of books round the corner of the RTC X Roads junction I had looked at the titles displayed. It was on the second sweep of the eyes that I spotted the copy of ‘The Transfiguring Places’ by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.’ It gave me quite a thrill to find something by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra with his picture on the cover. The book was a hardcover with the jacket intact. Ravi Dayal is the publisher and it was published in 1998. There are thirty three poems in this title that I got for just thirty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 22/11/2020)

 

Sometime last week I dropped in at the Unique Bookstore branch in Khairatabad. I had been there earlier too and had managed to find a few good titles. So this time too I expected to find something good.  It did not take me long to spot a thin volume on a shelf. I had seen only the words- ‘Pillai’ ‘Scavenger’s Son’ and ‘Heinemann’ on the spine of the book that lay flat in a pile high up on a shelf. I had it taken down after I realized that if it was published by Heinemann then it ought to be something very good. I thought it could be someone I did not know but I was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful cover with the author’s name- ‘Scavenger’s Son’ by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It was a thin volume with not more than 120 pages. I got it for a hundred rupees.

Then came Sunday. As usual I was at Abids after breakfast. I looked for the titles I had missed buying the last week. I was a bit disappointed that the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kaveri Nambisan was not to be seen. But I saw the copy of The Postman Always Rings Twice’ by James M.Cain with the back cover missing. I did not feel like buying it since I already own a copy though a tattered one. Before I could change my mind and buy a second copy I walked away. 

I couldn’t find anything interesting with the next couple of sellers. Then I happened to spot ‘Fire on the Mountain’ by Anita Desai with a lovely cover. It was a copy from a college library and there was a sticker on the cover that I later removed. I got this slim book for just fifty rupees. This is the next book I want to read. Only … pages long it will be a quick read that I can do in a day. Sometime during the week I plan to take a couple of days’ leave. There’s heavy rain coming up due to a cyclone and I don’t want to travel to office in that weather. I have leaves left over that I want to use now.

The Sunday Haul (on 15/11/2020)

 

Last Sunday was the first one after the Diwali festival and all the regular shops were closed which meant that the second hand book sellers at Abids were at their usual places. As usual I went around but did not pick up some good titles I should have bought. For example I saw an old copy of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ by James M.Cain that had the back cover missing but otherwise was in better shape than the copy I had found many years ago. But I did not buy it for some reason. I also missed buying the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kaveri Nambisan that was still there in the same pile I had seen it the other Sunday. Maybe next week I will pick it up.

However I did buy a book by an author I had always hoped to find. I found a nice copy of ‘Post Office’ by Charles Bukowski.  I have read a lot about Bukowski but had never found anything by him at Abids or any of the second hand book stores I frequent. Finding ‘Post Office’ was a lucky thing for me and the icing on the cake was that I got the book for just fifty rupees.

Something was missing, I thought, while reading travel books. I couldn’t place my finger on it but last week when I was reading Tim Butcher’s ‘Chasing the Devil’ in which he traces the same route that Graham Greene took in ‘Journey Without Maps’, I realized that I did not know where Sierra Leone was. Then I knew I had to get an atlas. It had always been in my mind to buy either a good atlas or a globe but somehow I couldn’t find them. But last Sunday I spotted a large sized hardcover copy of ‘Bartholomew New International Atlas’ and after flipping through a few pages bought it. Every night before going to sleep I am trying to look at the map of at least one country carefully. I realize how little I know about the countries of the world, especially African countries.

The Sunday Haul (08-11-2020)

Since it was festival time with Diwali less than a week away the second hand booksellers at Abids in Hyderabad were not at their usual places before the regular stores which kept their doors open for Diwali shoppers. Many of them were at different places and for the regular shoppers it meant searching for them. I was there before noon last Sunday at Abids looking for titles to pick up. Somehow all the titles I am missing buying one Sunday seem to be missing the next. Even then I deliberately am not picking up titles that I should have. For example I saw a nice copy of Kavery Nambisan’s ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ that I did not pick up. I hope I can find it next week.

I ended up buying nothing at Abids but at Chikkadpally one of the sellers had a title that I bought. It was an uncorrected proof copy of ‘The American Lover’ by Rose Tremain. It is a collection of thirteen short stories that I bought for a hundred rupees.

The American Lover

Captive

The Jester of Astapovo

Extra Geography

A View of Lake Superior in the Fall

Man in the Water

Juliette Greco's Black Dress

The Housekeeper

Smithy

Blackberry Winter

Lucy and Gaston

The Closing Door

21st-Century Juliet

The most interesting thing finding the book was something I found inside the book. Wedged among the pages was a boarding pass in the name of Andrew McElroy for an Istanbul to Bombay flight of Turkish Airlines on 08 October but the year was not mentioned. It looked about two decades old. 

‘A Random Haul’

A couple of years ago I had found ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield at Abids. I had read it then and reread it just a few weeks ago. In this rereading of the book I came across the fact that Steven Pressfield had written a book called ‘The Legend of Bagger Vance’ that was also made into a movie. One Sunday sometime last month I found a copy of this book. The most interesting thing about it was that I bought the book for just ten rupees. However I do not remember why I forgot to post about finding this book.

Sometime last month I had dropped in at ‘Akshara Bookstore’ in Jubilee Hills not very far from where I work. It was late afternoon when I went there with the plan to check out the shelves for old books. Quite a few times I had found some really good titles that I got cheap. It is one of the best independent bookstores in Hyderabad and it has been around for more than two and half decades. It has changed quite a few locations and I’ve followed the store all through because it stocks the very best titles.

This visit too I checked out the shelf where some old titles are kept and spotted a slim book with the title ‘borneo and the poet’ by Redmond o’hanlon on the spine. It was a Penguin 70s edition and I was filled with excitement holding the book. A long time back I had managed to get a copy of ‘Travel Writing’ by Don George that my brother in the US bought for me. In it I found a list of Travel Classics by US writers and in that list was ‘In Heart of Borneo’ by Redmond O’hanlon that was one of the few titles in that list I could not find so far. Also in the list were twenty other titles out of which I managed to find more than ten titles over the years. However it was not the same book but this small book was an extract from that book. Another interesting thing was that the poet mentioned in the title was James Fenton whose ‘All the Wrong Places’ I had found a couple of months ago. Of course I read ‘borneo and the poet’ right away after getting home. I paid just thirty rupees for this title.

I am so besotted by Africa that I will not miss anything about Africa especially travelogues. I have an impressive list of such titles like ‘Dark Star Safari’ by Paul Theroux, ‘The Africans’ by David Lamb, ‘The Emperor of Emperors’ by Ryszard Kapuscinski, to name a few.

 On Tuesday I dropped in at the Best Books store in Abids to check out the books and also because I hadn’t found any title at Abids on Sunday. I saw a copy of ‘Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit’ by Tim Butcher on the shelf and checked out the blurbs. It seemed like a good book going by what the other writers said about it. However, Tim Butcher’s other title ‘Blood River’ seemed a better book but ‘Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit’ was the title I found so I decided to buy it. I got it for almost three hundred rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 25 October 2020)

Last Sunday turned out to be a festive one since the festival of Dasara fell on the same day. It meant that the shops were open and many sellers were not in their usual places. However they were all there on Sunday which happened to be bright and sunny after a long spell of rains. I got there before noon and commenced my usual round. I did not plan to buy many books and so tried not to be drawn by the many interesting titles I saw. But at one seller I saw a title that roused my curiosity beyond normal levels. I saw a copy of ‘Kulu’ by Penelope Chetwode. While leafing through the book I read that Penelope Chetwode’s husband was john Betjeman, the famous English poet. That was enough to make me grab the book apart from the fact that the book itself was about a place in India.

After I discovered WG Sebald and his books I wanted to read all that he had written. ‘The Rings of Saturn’ was the first book by Sebald that I found long back. Afterwards I found another copy of the same book and also came across ‘Austerlitz’ in Bengaluru a couple of years back. But I do not have his ‘Vertigo’ that I am yet to find. However, last Sunday while returning home from Abids I stopped to look at the books at Chikkadpally and spotted a copy of ‘The Emigrants’ by WG Sebald. This copy had a different cover than the copy I had found earlier. But that wasn’t the reason I bought it but to possess another copy of a book by a wonderful writer. I bought it for sixty rupees only.

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.