There were supposed
to be three more Ross Macdonald
novels at the Lakdi-ka-Pul branch of Best
Book Centre (which is actually the HQ of Best Book Centre), according to
Vinod’s tip … I had opted to go on Wednesday to the YMCA branch to get Black Money, as it was closer …
considering the price I paid for Black
Money, I was not very sure about going to Best Book Centre Lakdi-ka-Pul, wondering what the prices there
would be … but by Thursday evening, I thought, why not go and see (half the
troubles in this world start with ‘why
not just go and see..’) … so the next day, I took off in the late afternoon
and reached Lakdi-ka-Pul … Best Book
Centre is just opposite the Lakdi-ka-Pul bus stand … this was the first
time I was visiting the Best Book Centre
HQ and I was just amazed at the range and number of books that were arranged in
those two long rooms … searching for three books in this sea of books was going
to be a difficult task … I took the easy way out and used the search option
(i.e. asked the person there to assist me …) he showed me a stack of John D. MacDonald-Trevor McGee books … no,
no, the other Macdonald … Ross Macdonald … he then went to the shelf at the end
of the room and plucked out two Ross
Macdonald-Lew Archer novels and gave it to me … but there was supposed to
be three, Vinod told me … never mind, maybe somebody picked up the third one … I
was happy with these two ... for the time being … he he … I got these two …
And then the stack
of John D. MacDonald-Trevor McGee
books smiled at me … won’t you even look at the titles, they seemed to ask … how
can you go away like that … by now, I was emboldened by the fact that the two
Rosses hadn’t cost as much as I had imagined … but these were older and not in
as good condition as Black Money …
but I had some ‘unspent’ money and I moved towards the John D. MacDonald stack … just to see only (another killer) … and to
cut the long story short … I just couldn’t resist … the prices were also
considerably modest and I ended up buying 6 John D. MacDonald-Trevor McGee
novels … greedy fellow … but what to do ya, that money was marked for books …
if I hadn’t bought these books, then the ‘unspent’ money will become sad, no … dil ko khush rakhne ka jai-lib yeh khayal
achcha hai …
As I was hauling the
haul back to my den … I thought I should tell Vinod that his tip was good as
gold and thank him …
Coming back from BB LKP; got 2 Ross McDs…who teesrawala
ud gaya shayad…thanks for the tip…
Which two? Small hardbacks?
Ek HB one PB…find a victim & ivory grin…
The third one is another shelf. Poochna tha na bhai.
Woh hamed ali se poocha, une yeh donon booksaan
nikaalke diye…tumhaarse poochna tha…woich…
Asal aadmi se nai poochey tum. Kya bhai aisa kaiku kar re aaj kal?
Galti ho gayi bade bhai, tengshung mein bhul
gaya ji…agli baar yaad nahin bhooltoon…
Theekh hai.
Jaando abhi.
Tumhaara dil nahin, dariya hai, bade bhai…
Bahut khush hua main. Kabhi chai pilaathoon.
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