An intrinsic part of Hyderabad, the Sunday book bazaar at Abids. I remember it since college, and I've been wanting to visit since I moved back and finally, three months in, Diksha and I got there. We not just got there, we've now decided it'll be an every first Sunday of month affair. It's called falling in love again :)
In this day of when every other shop in the city seems to remain open on Sundays (what happened to labour laws I wonder), it's wonderful how Abids remains totally shut on Sundays. It's almost like it does just to enable this Sunday bazaar.
There's every possible kind book on display, all second hand, fiction - classics to latest, childrens books, magazines - fashion, interior decoration, local, international, coffee table books, children's books, text books....anything at all. All you need is time and a keen eye. And there's no resisting the look and feel and price. If you're lucky you can even get stuff for Rs.10 and Rs.20.
Diksha started with "let's do a limit ma, three books each" and no way.....we went fully overboard.
While they said that footfall has really decreased over the years, I was happy to see that there were still enough people to keep it going. Especially the children's books. Wonderful to see parents and children picking up Enid Blyton's and Roald Dahl's.
What was not nice was to see these folks who will bargain so much. You can tell they've come in swanky cars and dressed from boutiques, and why they will bargain here for that thirty rupees more is simply beyond me. What would it take for them to pause and think of why the Odysseys and Waldens are shutting down, and what it takes for these guys to continue selling books.
Anyways, wasn't going to let that mar the experience. Just chatting up with these guys who sell is so interesting, they just know their books and market so well.
And the most fun part is when you have a coup. I did, a book that's on my 'to buy' list, The Dance of Intimacy by Harriet Lerner, priced at 700 plus on amazon, and I got it here for 120. Woohoo. My dance of intimacy moment:
And it was so sweet, the moment that guy saw my excitement at finding that book, he gave me a 'Dances of India' book. Wonderful how quickly he tuned in the best way he could.
And then another coup, Irani samosas. We did Irani chai and samosas. Walking in there by ourselves still raises eyebrows. And it was interesting to hear Diksha say, "Ma, with your taking pictures and our tattoos and all, they'll likely think visitors from the US or something, so chill"
I loved that menu, khara biscuit (biscooot) for Rs 1, Osmania biscuit for Rs.2 and so on. While this time round we stood at the outside counter and had our chai, next time round I hope to dare a table.
The irani cafe samosas, small, crisp, oniony, yummy.... one of my favouritest foods in the world
I was really apprehensive about parking, and had even toyed with taking the scooter. And to find that middle of Abids there's this huge parking lot. It was an omg moment for us.
When we decided on a visit a month, Diksha's like "Ma, lets make a deal, we come only if we finish reading what we bought". I loved the idea, and then tubelight jalaa, I was like, but that's not fully fair "what happens if one of us finishes and the other doesn't, worse, what if I finish and you don't, why am I paying for that". I loved the conversation it inspired.
A Sunday morning well spent, was so happy to see the book market so alive, and Inshallah we do it each month.
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