My bro enjoyed his brief stay here. Most of the time, he was out accompanying ma to the hospital ( she was here for a check-up, among other things) or busy writing cds. We had a couple of debriefing sessions late in the night, when we walked out all the way to Necklace road, just swapping “life stories”. It used to drizzle often the last week, mostly at night, and almost always when we were on Necklace road, so we used to come back home soaked. ( Close-up: mom screaming at errant youngsters. Slow-motion capture: A single drop of water falling from one EY’s chin, goes “splat!” on the floor Pan: piping hot dinner ready in the kitchen. Eat your heart out, John Woo. )

I haven’t caught a cold yet, but I can feel it coming up. The occasional sniffle, the sudden twitch of the nose. ( This from a guy who, at the peak of his runny-nosedness, sneezed 43 times in a row. Or was it 45? )

Oh yeah, I haven’t said that before, he’s a teacher. He teaches Maths and Science in the same school where he passed his 12th, in Golaghat. he’s also the Scout-master there. Actually, that was why they had to leave so early, him and my ma, because he had this Scout meet from the 16th. Seems he gives all his students a DC comic each if they perform well, like solving a particularly good maths problem, or answering a difficult question in class. It was quite a weird experiment, at first, because the students did not like to read, especially stuff other than what they should be reading at school. (Isn’t that the case everywhere?) But there have been converts, all the same.

My brother made me do something I haven’t done in a long time. The day we went to buy his discman at Abids, we also went to Saremisons ( easily the best stationery shop in Hyderabad. At least, the only good one I know ) He bought a couple of pens and geometry boxes for his students. And then he bought a drawing pad and gifted it to me. You’re crazy, I said. I don’t draw anymore, I haven’t drawn anything in the last four years, other than maybe the occasional doodle on notebooks. And the occasional message on T-shirts.

Guess what, the pad inspired me to sit down, last Thursday evening, and draw something. I mean, I have this beautiful white page, lots of beautiful white pages in front of me, and I need to fill them up. The first fifteen minutes was spent in deep thought (Original composition? Still life? Comics? Portrait?) and occasional hops to the kitchen (ma was cooking chicken that night). . Took the easy way out and thought about an “artistic reinterpretation”. In other words, a black and white rendering of something, since a black pen was all I had.

Three hours of dedicated “rendering”, with a short break for dinner, and I was done. And guess what! I liked what I saw. Not bad, eh? Nope, definitely not bad. Not too good either, but ok, good enough for someone who’d stopped all kinds of artistic activity. ( does Photoshop count? naaaaaaaah!)

My friends were gracious enough to echo my sentiments when I showed it to them. Or maybe they were just being kind. :-)

Is there anything as catchy as, Aiyyo, Love is full of pain, poda, love is just a strain.???

Imagine going inside a room, a big room, that’s filled with books. Books piled one over the other to the height of an average human being. Books piled together so precariously balanced that you need to weave your way through. And when you stare, and stare some more, you realise that these are books that you have been waiting to buy for like, years, and all of them are priced below hundred.

This is what’s going on at Best Book Stall. The shipment that Ahmedsir was talking about is insane. My budget is going to be blown into orbit. Would you believe me if I told you that the pile includes all of Michael Chabon’s books? All the books from the Foundation series. All Anne Rices. Loads of Philip K Dicks and Robert Heinleins and Neil Gaimans and Anne McCaffreys and Conan books and …whooof….each of them priced at 75 rupees. All classics and children’s books for 50 rupees. All the “pulp” stuff, Archer, Segal, Sheldon, Harold Robbins, Jackie Collins, Grisham at 95. The sale is due to start from Monday. Fingers crossed. I asked him to call me an hour before the sale actually starts. Already booked a lot of good stuff for myself.