Books at Abids on 23 August 2015 …some for Mamoon, some for Baba ...

It was almost a month since I had met Vinod at Abids … yeah, that same visit that triggered the Macd(D)onald books frenzy and which sent me on a wild-goose-chase (why chase goose?) of secondhand book shops across Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad … anyway, there were some other reasons for which I wanted to meet Vinod … and Shruti had wanted me to locate Telugu & Hindi letters practicing books for Mamoon at Abids … Mamoon is learning to read and write Telugu & Hindi at her school, you see … and we wanted some extra practice books … and since I had bought all these secondhand books in the last 4 weeks or so, I was not thinking of books for myself …

I met Umashankar and Srikanth first … Uma noticed my watch, a blue-dial HMT Kohinoor mechanical … and he had acquired a black-dial HMT Pilot, which he was wearing … as this mutual watch admiration was going on, Vinod walked up the road to the Irani and we went in for our chai and osmanias … Uma and Srikanth were apparently very hungry, Uma more apparently so and they went on to demolish five plates of pooris … they went about their job silently, efficiently, and methodically … and general talk about politics, books, literature, etc. … I had brought a book for Vinod, The Laughing Policeman …

Then we started on our rounds … the place where I had earlier purchased mathematics and colouring books for Mamoon didn’t seem to stock these kinds of books anymore and I had to widen my search … I had told Vinod about my ‘mission’ and as soon as we crossed the road and went to the other end of Bata galli, Vinod espied a seller with these reading and writing practice books arranged on the pavement … I was glad that I could find some good practice books, both Hindi and Telugu, so soon … 

Since the main reasons for visiting Abids were taken care of, I was pleased … my book hunting was not so enthusiastic … I would usually dip into the piles of books to see what treasures are hidden below … but I just took a cursory look, found one or two books of mild interest and then put them back … this went on for some time … but you can’t return without books after a visit to Abids on a Sunday, can you?  It is like going to Tirupati and coming back without laddoos … concentrate … try harder … I told myself … I picked up a couple of books, then put them back … it was all desultory … and across the road I saw another set of writing practice books, and picked up some more for Mamoon … each of the books I bought for Mamoon cost around Rs.10 or so …

Then I entered into that shopping complex, which looks like a tunnel from the road … and there were again heaps and shelves and piles of books … I went to a small neatly arranged stack of books arranged on a sort of table … and the board said … Novels: 3 for Rs. 100 … I saw the arranged books … a couple of them seemed interesting … I wanted one more … put the two back … and saw the titles again … it was like those buy 2 get 4 free offers that you see in shops like Megamart … you want to buy one shirt, and end up buying 6, and out of that you actually like only two … you wear the other four half-heartedly … I couldn’t buy only two … I tried hard and picked up an Ian Rankin title, that I knew I already had, but then I thought … what the kangaroo, I’ll give it to one of my students …  Len Deighton’s Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy and Elmore Leonard’s Cuba Libre were real finds for me … 

The Deccan Wispy …. A mid-year model from Deccan Pens, Hyderabad …

Aah … back to fountain pens … and it is all serendipity … so to say, but what to say … for the last six months or so (huh…when I actually checked, I was surprised myself … ) it has been about second hand books and travel books and hunting books and so on and … I was thinking about pens and one is always in my pocket … but I was getting sort of desperate … I haven’t gone without pens or writing about pens for this long … but I didn’t have new pens to post or boast about …

That changed in the first week of August when Hari came to Hyderabad on work for a couple of days … it has almost become ritualized now that we take off on one of the evenings and visit Deccan Pens at Abids and then we head out for drinks and dinner … Deccan Pens is constant, but the restaurants change every time … this time it was Waterfront on Necklace Road …

The visit to Deccan Pens yielded one new model, an old archival model not seen before (at least not by us!  We are true blue Deccan connoisseurs you see…), another combo model, and a variation of the Deccan Majaz … Hari bought quite a few pens … actually more than quite a few actually … this is Hari’s haul that day …

I didn’t buy a single pen that day … I didn’t know why … but I bought three bottles of inks and some colour colour gel pens for Shruti …

But that new thin pen (the ones in the red satin pouch in the picture above …) stayed in mind … after a couple of weeks, I felt I should have that pen … but I was not sure whether there would be one piece left for me to buy, because Hari seemed to have bought all the available pieces at Abids … nonetheless, I called up Zubair at Deccan Pens, Secunderabad to find out if he had any of those thin pens available … he said he had that model with him … haa … that was some relief … at the back of my mind I was somehow confident that I would get at least one piece of that new thin pen …

I went there the same evening … Zubair showed me the brown Wispy … and a little while later, I thought I spied him handling a similar green coloured pen … and asked him to show it to me … waah … the Wispy green pen was a real surprise … I hadn’t expected that there would be a green one too … we didn’t see that at Abids … and as it happens usually there were other pens too that I couldn’t just hold back from buying … but first, the thin pen … the Deccan people haven’t given this model a name but I am calling it the Deccan Wispy … it is thin and light, that’s why … (Hari calls it the Datoon) …

So, anyway, here are the photos of the pens … I don’t think I have captured the colour of the brown pen very well … it appears orange-ish in flash-aided photos and more actual colour in flash-less photos … but it is slightly more browner than the brown you see in the flash-less photos … 

The first thing I noticed, apart from the slender-ness of the pen, was the clip … the clip comes straight down from the cap jewel and does a ‘u’ and then straightens out … ok, this style is unique … normally clips stick almost close to the cap surface and whatever little gap is there is closed at the end either by either side horizontal folds or vertical end roll … so that the pen can be clipped to the pocket … that’s what clips are for, anyway … for clipping … if you look at the picture of the clip shown sideways, you can see there is considerable gap between cap surface and clip … so this ‘u’ in the middle helps the clip to clip ... if this ‘u’ wasn’t there, there would be many a slip between the clip and the clipping … he he …

The other thing is the MEBSONS 61 imprinted on the clip … we wondered and we were told that (I am using Hari’s words) “Mebsons (an old pen manufacturing company in Mumbai, now they make only some ball points etc, they still have a dealer on AR street in Mumbai, here is some interesting information with mention of Mebsons: link ) had made a slim ballpoint a long while back. Deccan had the spare clips left over and they decided to put the stock to use to make some really slim fountain pens. So, that was the Mebsons connection.”

The most notable part is the exquisite slender long tapering shape of the pen … the barrel is as slender as one of those Parker ink cartridges … and look at the section … ooh … such mastery over the craft of shaping the pen … this has to be Deccan … their chhaap is unmistakable … Deccan does this section designing beautifully … notice the ridge right at the top near the nib … gives you the grip and prevents fingers sliding … in other pens they have this hourglass shaped section that serves the same function …

For this pen, they have put in the Wality nib … the ones that Hari bought had Ambitious nibs ... Hari was surprised when I told him that mine had Wality nibs … apparently, Wality at present don’t make slim pens, but at some point they used to make and the surplus nibs might have found their way to Deccan … I am just guessing 

‘Following Fish’ down and up the Indian coast with Samanth Subramanian …

This book is one gastronomic delight for fish-eaters …

Even a sort of antiseptic fish-eater like me couldn’t keep myself from imagining and dreaming about eating some of the fish dishes that Samanth Subramanian talks about and eats with gusto in this wonderful travel book … all right, not everything in this book about ‘eating’ fish … but everything is actually about ‘fish’ … fishing, fish medicine, angling, fishing communities, fishing-boat building, and fish eating …

Samanth Subramanian starts chasing fish from Kolkata, with, Hilsa or Ilish … this first chapter is reserved for finding and eating ilish at various places in Kolkata …  and in between mouthfuls of ilish and bhaath and plucking out bones, there are opinions and discussions about the relative merits of ilish from both sides of the border … the best way to eat it … how to pick your way through those exasperating bones … of course, true blue Bengalis might find other bones to pick in Subramanian’s narrative considering the reverence with which they hold ilish … ilish is almost a parallel religion in Bengal …

From Kolkata, Subramanian travels down the east coast, and comes inland to Hyderabad … and from all that epicurean delights of Ilish-ian Kolkata, we suddenly come to just the ‘curean’ … the ‘fish cure’ medicine that is made and distributed to people suffering from Asthma … this is an annual sort of event that used to be a small affair until the government started bestowing its patronage … and it became a kind of mela ... Subramanian documents all these in a very interesting anecdotal manner and even eats the live fish stuffed with the medicine … I have been living in Hyderabad for the last twenty years and reading about this ‘fish medicine’ thing, but this was the first time I read something so comprehensive about this day in the life of Hyderabad … very lively narrative …    

Further down the coast travels Subramanian and comes to Tamil Nadu … here goes to Manapadu and meets and talks to the members of the fisherman community called the Paravas … gives us a history of this community from their early days to their conversio to Christianity and their current syncretic customs and traditions …

From Tamil Nadu, we turn the corner and land in Kerala … aah … in and around Tiruvananthapuram … and the narrative also takes a turn, and returns to the delights of fish eating, along with some spiritual stuff too … this episode is like a detour into a well-hidden subterranean parallel stream … this is a stream only the initiates would know … Subramanian takes us on a tour of toddy shops and introduces us to such toddy-shop fish delights as kappa-meen curry … oohhhh … karimeen … mussels … yeah … and we have a spiritual Subramanian who discusses the merits of various kinds of toddy and toddy-shop food … and of course, the discussion also veers towards the fishing business, fishermen, etc … all in all, an enjoyable auto ride …

Next stop, Mangalore … moving up the west coast … though Mangalore is my ‘native place,’ I didn’t know such eating places as described and visited by Subramanian existed there … anyway, then I had neither money nor freedom … what is the best part of the Mangalore episode?  The last part … where Mr Vasudev Boloor’s brother’s son’s wife, Shailaja cooks a mackerel fish curry … in a masala made of 35 to 40 dried red chillies … ‘sinus-clearing’ dish, says Subramanian … right from washing and descaling to serving, the whole episode is mouthwatering … the entire book is worth it for this piece alone … 

Further up the west coast … Goa … and then … Mumbai … the Goa episode reminds you of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea … it is a wonderful description of Danny Moses’ chasing the elusive sailfish, the fastest fish in the ocean … he almost gets it once, but it got away after a sort of ‘epic’ struggle … and the chapter goes on to talk about the angling, that gentle Goan ‘activity’ … it is about the pleasure of the act itself rather than what you catch … but things are changing in Goa and construction activity has put a spoke in the wheel of this activity … there is languor in angling … and poignancy in the description that it may not continue for long …

Last but one stop is Mumbai … Subramanian wants to eat fish as the city once ate and goes looking for fish dishes among the fisher-folk of Mumbai, the members of the Koli community … he eats a fish meal in a typical ‘khanawal’ lunch home called Ananthashram and that leads on to a question about the specificities of the Gomantak and Malvani cuisines … and Subramanian was advised to eat his way around Mumbai and find out … and he does that and eats various kinds of fish cooked in various styles … and finally at a small eatery in Mahim, the proprietress, gives him an ‘angry’ (because he wondered whether the food was Gomantak or Malvani!!) master class in Gomantak cuisine, and shows him how it is different from Malvani cuisine … he tries in vain to find an ‘authentic’ Koli restaurant, but ended up going to two fake places and decides that he would ‘shamelessly abuse someone’s hospitality and invite oneself’ … he meets Gobind Patil, and Gobind Patil cooks him a Koli meal … and what a meal!!  Read it to find out … or better, if you get a chance, eat and find out …

It is but geographical that Subramanian’s last chapter is located in Gujarat … he makes a neat V, starting from Kolakata, coming down the east coast, turning at the bottom of the V, and going up the west coast, and ending the narrative in Gujarat … he takes us to Veraval and Mangrol, two of Gujarat’s ship building cities … a completely different perspective to ‘fish’ actually … the going out and bringing in of fish and how effectively and efficiently it can be done … when we are relishing these wonderful fish dishes along the coast, we only concentrate on what is there in front of us on the plate … not how it got there, who brought it in, and the other logistics of the whole enterprise … it is sobering to know that the people in Veraval and Mangrol take pains to make that perfect fishing vessel and take pride in doing a job well … that brings fish to plate …   

Well … here we are … at the end of Finding Fish … a lively and informative travel book with a strong theme … a book that is ‘delicious,’ witty, poignant, suffused with history, and written with an eye for detail … and ear for nuance … and these two, detail and nuance, are best seen in a sort of ‘surreal’ exchange between a pony-tailed middle-aged man in jeans and t-shirt and a gray-bearded Sikh in a baseball cap in Anantashram, an old ‘khanawal’ in Mumbai (Pp. 139-140) … 

Hot Tea across India -- Rishad Saam Mehta delights with an enchanting tea-sipping ride …

One purchase of a travel book and that canny online bookseller started tempting me with more such travel books … it didn’t take long to persuade me to ‘only look’ at such proffered books … I put together a wishlist of around 4 books and after reading about them on the site, finalized two … Rishad Saam Mehta’s Hot Tea across India is one of the two …

When I read the title I thought it would be a kind of travelogue across tea growing places or places with distinct tea drinking cultures or different types of tea and the making of it in different places with local sights and sounds thrown in … but the blurb on the site told me that this book looks at ‘tea’ in terms of its ubiquitousness (?) on Indian roads … I altered the direction of my expectations and wondered … I would have loved to read any interesting travel book about tea growing places, or tea drinking cultures and so on … but this book seemed promising and I thought why not? 

Yes, the book fulfilled its promise and after reading it in two sittings, I can say that it is an engrossing read … it doesn’t pretend to be profound, but it takes you along on a merry ride across Indian roads and I enjoyed the ride, riding pillion on Rishad Saam Mehta’s bike and sometimes sitting in his car … stopping for hot tea at intervals …

All right, the premise is this … and Rishad Saam Mehta makes it clear in the opening lines of the book …

If there is one certainty about roads in India, it is that – no matter where you are or what the hour – if you want a cup of tea, you’ll find a chai ki dukaan within a few kilometres.  The tea shop is an integral part of Indian national highways, state highways, minor roads, even rough tracks.  From the desolate unsealed roads of Spiti high up in the Himalayas, to the sinuous route to Munnar, a cup of tea is within easy reach …

The first episode sets the tone for the book … to hitch a ride on a truck to travel from Mumbai to Delhi … and then write about it … and this episode is full of fun, adventure, and embarrassment and there is lots of tea … and one such cuppa leads to this really huge embarrassment …

It is not one continuous journey, but different journeys tied together with tea … so you see the writer in different parts of the country travelling by road and enjoying the tea … but to cut the long story short, it is his descriptions of travel across the Himalayan landscape that forms the bulk of the narrative and it is indeed engrossing … the visions of the mountains and the tranquility that he experiences are otherworldly … Rishad Saam Mehta has a warm way with words and his descriptions of his feelings in the Himalayas come across as extremely heartfelt … at some places the ride becomes dangerous and the narrative takes on a tone of suspense and the pace increases …

Then there is a hilarious bus chase on the Delhi-Haryana road with Jolly Jhunjhunwalla … and the suspense again rears its head in the last episode in Munnar, where he is saved by … yes, a tea-maker … who of course, doesn’t acknowledge it openly …

There is food, of course … and descriptions of delicious meals at Balbir Singh’s Dhaba on the Grand Trunk Road and at Ahdoos, Lal Chowk, Srinagar … oh, these made me very very hungry …

And there are lots of different types of tea too … the tea in a Ladakh monastery with yak’s butter floating on top … tea with cardamom and ginger in Gujarat … the railway station tea … the kullad chai … the cutting chai … and made by a former bandit in a desolate stop between Gwalior and Agra … a shepherd in Kashmir …

I wish more and more young boys and girls read books like this … it has everything going for it … there is no dull moment, and there is adventure, some suspense, some hilarity, evocative descriptions, some quiet moments, and some speed too and lots of tea, of course … and written with a sense of ease and comfort …