I spent half of New Year’s Day in the airport, courtesy Deccan Airlines, which had declared on the previous day that the flight due to depart at 1:15 PM would instead leave at 10:15 AM, and which, after making sure that I had arrived at the airport sleep-deprived and hungry beyond belief, announced that the flight would depart at 2:15 PM. GAH!
But then, coming back to familiar territory, observing first-hand how much the MCH has done to widen the already-wide Begumpet roads, the autodriver chatting amiably about the proposed flyover from Greenpark all the way to Nagarjuna Circle, and finally, opening the door to my room and my preciousses inside – that made up for all the morning crabbiness.
Paid my visits to Best Book Stall and MR Book Stall, learnt that Best is organising a sale at the YMCA Hall from the 6th of this month, found that MR book stall now has another outlet at RTC Crossroads. Man, all these months at Bangalore and I had almost forgotten that you could still get books for forty rupees – cursory searching at Best got me
three Tom Sharpe novels (including Porterhouse Blue, yippee!),
the second volume of Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe,
FX Toole’s Rope Burns – the novel on which “Million Dollar Baby” was based,
Bret Easton Ellis’s The Informers.
The trip to MR got me :
Jonathan Lethem’s Guns With Occasional Music ( which I just finished yesterday, excellent book, full of noir spoofs and animals with guns and attitude, like a cross between Chandler and Warren Ellis),
a couple of odd comics, including an Eclipse issue of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Miyazaki himself, a couple of random Cerebus issues, a couple of Moebius’s Elsewhere Prince
A sexy coffee-table book called Faeries, illustrated by Alan Lee ( who was one of the lead artists on the Lord of the Rings trilogy), for the grand price of 125 rupees. Muwhahahahahah!
Hit the Best Book Sale on Saturday with sonataindica ( the man had gone West, and very happily, his flight developed Air Deccanitis too ), was amazed to see all Far Side anthologies on sale at 125 Rs each. Bah! After all the hard work I had done to collect my copies individually. The day started on a bad note of sorts, found that some early browser had picked up a book on the Blues, and a terrific-looking copy of The Last Temptation of Christ just as the sale had opened. Damn. Also, there were no science fiction books on sale ( “They don’t seem to sell nowadays”, Ahmed-sir commented sadly when I asked him the reason. Ah well, he should go to Blossom and see sales there, I guess)
Stuff picked up at the Best Book Sale:
The New Bedside Agatha Christie Reader, which made me really happy because I hadn’t picked it up at Blossom ( It was on sale there for 250, and it was too much for that old copy) Not only did my patience get me the book at a cheaper rate, I also got the newer edition. Third Law at work, people. *snicker snicker*
Vampires by John Steakley, the book on which the John Carpenter movie was based. My fanboy instincts kicked into overdrive when I saw this, because I saw the movie twice at Sterling, just before passing out of college, and almost flicked the VCD from the local video parlour at W.
A bunch of Matt Groening’s Life is Hell books. Funny thing is, everytime I buy one of these books, I always think that’s the end of it, there cannot be anything more in this series – but they just keep coming out. I got Love is Hell, and The Huge Book of Hell this time.
A couple of Bloom county collections at 40 Rs each, a Foxtrot compendium, and the first Outlander collection.
Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing, a collection of essays on writing and technique. Read vaguely corny, but what the heck – Bradbury is Bradbury after all, especially at 40 Rs.
The second volume of a series of essays on famous Western composers. Good, even though the first volume was missing, because it covered the lesser-known canon – Rimsky Korsakov, Shostakovich, Saint-Saens et al.
The Encyclopaedia of Pop Culture by Jane and Michael Stern. 200 Rupees, har har har.
Hit Frankfurt Book Sale yesterday, just for kicks and found A Long Strange Trip: The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead, and a Tom Wolfe three-books-in-one collection for sub-150 prices. Was done browsing, and while the guy was writing out the bill, sauntered over to the Nora Roberts/Jackie Collins/Danielle Steele section, just looking around at the prices. And that was when I saw Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones, with a marked price of 40 Rs.
I love Hyderabad.
Wah!
You found Howl’s Moving Castle! I have read the sequel but not that one…
Luck guy. I hate you, I think.
Heh, that’s ok. I love myself way too much. :-D
Sigh. They should make a law that prohibits gloating of this kind.
(I too love Hyderabad, I think.)
So where are you now? In Hyd, right?
No, in Bangalore.
Have gloated enough to Ganja-man and Pi and all and sundry, sir.
Gihahahah. I shall someday tell my grandchildren stories about how I pillaged Hyderabad on Jan 6th, 2006 :D
Yes, I am slowly seducing the G-man into believing that Hyderabad is the Promised Land. Seems to be working so far.
Any anti-Blossom capaign is welcome, even if it’s an anti-Bangalore, pro-Chorminar one!
Anytime, sir, anytime…
Welcome back. How come I never find good books at the Stanza outlet of MR? :(
Which reminds me, I haven’t been there after I’ve come back. :-D
>Porterhouse Blue
Didn’t like it that much, actually. It was all too predictable.
>The New Bedside Agatha Christie Reader
I just finished 17 Christies in 3 days. I’d gone without for a year and a half, you see.
>Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
How was it? Didn’t the movie come from the comics? I always thought it is probably the most under-rated Miyazaki film. Visually, people who’ve only seen Chihiro or Howl will probably find it gauche, but it was a film that surprised me.
I just finished 17 Christies in 3 day
You’re one scary guy.
The movie “Nausicaa” indeed came from the comics, written and drawn by Miyazaki himself. Eclipse/Viz tried to reprint them in the States sometime in the late-80’s, and then the company folded, so Viz has recently come up with a paperback Perfect Collection which reprints the complete storyline in English. I quite liked the movie, really, even after watching it post Spirited Away.
My friends and I have just discovered the most wonderful Indian buffet out in Research Triangle Park (don’t expect you to know what that is…it’s an office/research institution area between the three cities that make up the region I live in in North Carolina). Sort of a silly, but no-nonsense name…Spice & Curry. I have a friend who took me to yet another restaurant yesterday, and it was OK…it’s southern Indian (as is she), and I was telling her about the place I’ve been raving about, and she said the people who run it (and the type of food) are from Hyderabad. In addition to a few authentically delicious places, there is a good bit of mediocre Indian food around here (variants cooked by Bengali and Pakistani people), but this place…mmmmmmmmmm.
there is a good bit of mediocre Indian food around here (variants cooked by Bengali and Pakistani people)
somehow that is music to de ears.
‘splain, please.
My friend al_lude has this vague suspicion that the people of Bengal (who he, and the rest of us refer to as Bongs) are out to take over the planet, and makes it a point to rebel against this silent conquest in his own way. Somehow the combination of “mediocre” and “Bengali people” appealed to his ears. :-)
Ah! I would be interested in tasting the food. The last time I took a Finnish friend to a restaurant here in Hyderabad, he had to spend a couple hours drinking assorted colas to soothe his burning taste-buds. You didn’t find it spicy?
On an aside, how much does an Indian buffet meal cost in North Carolina?
I think it was 8.00 US…I went again today, and it was absolutely delicious. I was telling my friends about this conversation, and that at least at another Indian restaurant (a northern Indian one), you can specify the spice level (non-buffet, of course); works the same way at the good Thai places around here. I’m sure they dumb the intensity down to suit the American palate…I haven’t felt much of a burn at this restaurant I keep going to.
Damn! Help me find a job and move back in Hyderabad, will you, before you leech on all their supplies? >:(
Apply to any XYZ company here, you’ll make a clean sweep for sure.
Gloater!
Let me just call you a Goat.. okay!
Bah! Baaaaaaah!