Among other things, I stated in my previous blog that I had gone on Republic Day to Majestic to hunt for second hand books. I like buying second hand books. I think it is partly because you never know what book you are going to find when you are looking into a pile of old books. It is always a kind of pleasant surprise. The other advantage is you can be bold and experiment with authors and genres because second hand books are so much cheaper. Then there are these nice scribblings that you get to read on the inside - the names of the owner(s), a sketch, a date - it is pretty nice actually. And though I always have prefered Brand New Textbooks, I always liked older novels better.

Me and Second Hand books go back a long way. I remember the first time I started reading novels. It was when I had gone to Bombay as a kid and had nothing to do. And my uncle bought me this huge pile of second hand stuff - Three Nancy Drew Novels and lots and lots of Archies and Richie Riches. Those Archies are really so damn funny, they are much better than the new books. In Belgaum me and my sister ran a library from our house in the vacations. From our kutti earnings, we went and bought second hand Tinkles from a book shop. One of my best second hand buys is a book called 'Envious Casca' by Georgette Heyer. It is pretty big book - only 300 pages but extremely fine print. I had no idea about the author, the title didn't mean anything to me, there was no blurb and much as I tried to flip through the pages and look for the word 'murder' I couldn't find it. Finally I bought the book, on instinct, for, I think, less than 5 ruppees. This was about 8-10 years ago, in Belgaum, from an old man on the pavement (We never saw that fellow again after that day). Among other books I remember we (me and my sister) bought that day, 'The Rilloughby Fair Mystery' by Enid Blyton. Envious Casca is fundoo book. I have read it N times. It did turn out to be a murder mystery, extremely well written, and extremely funny, sarcastic funny especially, one of the lead characters is this guy with the acid tongue. Georgette Heyer has written around 10 crime novels, of which I have read only one another, again an excellent work, not as much from the story, but the way it is written and the nature of the characters. She has however written a lot of Historical novels, set in England and Europe. Unfortunately only the Historical books are available in libraries (TI library also) and second hand places. If it had not been for second hand stores, I would never have read Georgette Heyer. Then there was this book by Richard Gordon, called Doctor In Clover, which I bought hoping it would be a murder mystery (there was a blurb but at that time it didnt make much sense). I never got around to reading it till my Mom read it first and recommended it. My, is that book funny!

Coming back to my Republic Day shopping. I bought the following: Discovery of India by Nehru. The Wreck by Tagore. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin. Man Eater of Malgudi by Narayan. A translation of Kalidasa's Malavikagnimitram, with the original text on the left hand side. All for 130 bucks. I almost bought Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, but didnt because the fellow wouldnt lower the price beyond 80, and I have a three Novel Dostoyevsky Omni sitting at home with which I have made little progress. I had a really nice time that day standing unhurriedly in the winter sun looking at books and books and books. This place is on the road just opposite the Majestic Busstand; there are three or four shops on the pavement. I found the place when my Parents were visiting. That time I almost bought 'Everything about growing mushrooms'. In my 10th Standard vacation I had taken this violent fancy for growing mushrooms on a commercial scales (The idea is still there in the back of my mind). I will write about it in detail some other time.