Yesterday I kind of bunked office for the afternoon, to get some medicines for my mom. Rishi’s going home to Guwahati this weekend, and I am supposed to be sending stuff through him. Just to make sure how many tablets I need to buy, and which ones, I called up home. Mom was at home, and somehow, we ended up talking for nearly one and a half hours…with infrequent interruptions from my sis and would-be bro-in-law, both of whom also happened to be at Guwahati now.

Ma filled me in with a lot of gossip. :-) Hot news: my cousins are getting married. Some of them. Two girls and a guy, all of them being elder to me by a year….Hmmm, seems like yesterday, when I tripped Indraniba and broke her nose and specs and stayed hidden on the terrace the rest of the day. Had a BIG crush on the other cousin. All this when I was in the fifth standard. Crazy thing is, I haven’t met both of them for something like six years. Family feud. :-)

Medicines bought. Decided to check out the MR book exhibition at Panjagutta. My fault. Or my luck, depending on how you look at it. To think that a day ago, I was telling patrodz that I haven’t bought any books this month. Sigh!

William Gibson’s Neuromancer. (Finally!) Stephen KIng’s From a Buick Eight. (Finally!), Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors. (Finally! Finally!!!) Each at 80 rs apiece.

Also saw Two volumes of Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries on sale. Volume I wasn’t around, though. The guy convinced me that it will be available soon, and I convinced him that I would buy all three volumes when he gets them.

Now, at this critical juncture, a pattern begins to emerge. I got lucky here, I tell myself. That means, I tell myself again, I will get lucky at other places too. (Editor’s note: This line of reasoning may not be entirely logical, but whoever said I am logical? ) “So do we make the journey to Best Book Stall as well?”, we ask ourselves. “Naaaaah”, we replies. “Too friggin hot!” ( Editor’s note again: Contrary to popular belief, Beatzo’s inner urges are not completely in disharmony with the elements ) “Okie, Odyssey then?” “Yup, yup, yup!”

Right-o!

Odyssey yields more pleasant surprises. They have the trade paperback of Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, that’s issues #1-6, with a neat blurb saying “Soon to be a major motion picture”. Wheeee! And it’s in the Sci-fi section. Two copies. I hope someone picks it up and gets hooked. The movie’s gonna be trash. I can feel it.

(Short enlightening, editorial note: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen happens to be the brainchild of a certain Mr Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. The premise: Victorian England. Four intrepid adventurers are brought together by the Diogenes Club, the secret arm of the British Government, in order to quell a threat against the Monarchy. The “Extraordinary gentlemen” happen to be an opium-addicted Allan Quartermain, Dr Henry Jekyll, whose fits of rage transform him into Hydeous you-know-who, Mr Hawley Griffin, presumed dead a long time ago, but of course, still alive and ..umm…invisible. Miss Wilhelmina Murray, who had had a scandalous affair with a foreign Count and keeps her throat hooded. An Indian Prince named Dakkar who calls himself the Latin equivalent of “No Name”. Together, they must defeat the a mysterious Oriental…and well, the movie’s going to be completely different from the comic, it seems. They have Americanized part of it, adding Tom Sawyer into the mix. Blah! The India-centric news is that Naseeruddin Shah plays Captain Nemo. The trade paperback collects the first six issues and is available for a paltry 500 rupees. )

The comics section in Odyssey is so sad!