My last visit to Abids was on September
the 13th … that was ages ago maan … so many things happened between
then and now … not that I am a regular Sunday Abid-er, but even that once a
month visit kept getting so indefinitely postponed that I started feeling like
Derrida … things fell together this Sunday the 6th of December and
off I went to Abids … Shruti and Mamoon went to watch the Good Dinosaur and I proceeded
on my hungry hunt … I texted Vinod that I would be Abid-ing that day …
I reached quite early actually and the
book sellers were just about setting up their stalls … sacksful of secondhand
books stood around these makeshift stalls with their mouths tied waiting for
release into the Abid-ian air … I wandered around and Vinod texted back saying
that he’s in Abids … I called and he said he’d be coming to the usual Irani … I
met Srikanth as I was walking towards the Irani … and he asked me why I was
letting my hair grow … it is quite grown down now and Shruti had ponytailed it in
the morning … I told him I was living out my teenage fantasy in late middle age
… he enquired after Mamoon … Uma was already waiting and he noticed the HMT
Braille that was my on wrist … he too wanted to know how Mamoon was … and there
was some HMT talk for a while and Vinod walked up … we went inside the Irani …
Vinod had a book in his hand already and he showed it to me and said there’s a stall
selling good children’s books and I could buy some for Mamoon … and then he
gave me the book that he already bought and said in fact you could give this book
too to Mamoon … haen? … I sort of protested … he said he bought the book
because it was good and he was anyway going to give it away to a kid, so why
not to Mamoon … oh wow … first book of the day for Mamoon … I made a mental
tick to come this way to look for books for Mamoon at the place Vinod suggested
…
After tea, biscuits, and banter, we
sailed forth with hope in our hearts and courage in our heads … ok, let it be …
couldn’t find anything worth my interest for a long long time … and then I sort
of started finding books of the sort I liked … and some really old crime
fiction books, which I bought solely for their covers … aah, but these will
come in the next post (in a day or two … ), but this post is for books that I bought
for Mamoon …
These came towards the end of my
tramping, and there was a chotu boy who was ‘boy’ing the small stall arranged
with all sorts of children’s books … extremely voluble and so enthusiastic that
he kept pushing books at me and wanted me to buy everything … he wouldn’t let
me focus on the books … I told to keep quiet after some time … I selected 8
books …
I bargained and bargained with that chotu
fellow … and walked away twice and he followed me with the heap of books … he
wanted 300 … I said 150 … he argued … and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I forced
him to accept 200 … he wanted 20 more … no … give me 10 more … nothing doing …
basse re baba … kya saab … kuch bhi nai hota, le le re bhai …
I have to be careful, can’t buy what books
I like … I have to try and look at the books from Mamoon’s viewpoint … each
page should have not more than three or four lines … maximum five, sort of … and
nice illustrations … Mamoon now reads at a faster clip and she finishes these kinds
of books in quick time … it is a hit and miss actually … anyway, these 8 books
were a mix of animal stories, songs, rhymes, activity, etc. …
This is the book that Vinod gave Mamoon ... the one that sparked off the search ...
One of Mamoon's favourite rhymes ... mainly because she can jump on the bed with her friends ... and make a real racket ...
A couple of cat books ...
That's a very forlorn looking baby bear, isn't it? Don't worry, he finally manages to get back home ... he he he ... but the Arctic scenes are dazzling ...
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