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Computing, Libraries, Tennis, India & other interests of Vikas Kamat

Rediscovering the Joy of Books

In the last year or so, I have taken up reading and have tremendously enjoyed many books. One of the readers of this blog, Venkatesha Murthy of California sent me "Parva" which I tremendously enjoyed. I just finished reading "Mookajjiya Kanasugalu". Here are some interesting tidbits about books in our collection. My grandfather loved books -- I think he loved to buy books as much as he loved to read them. He would walk five miles to downtown Bangalore (Majestic) to attend a Book Sale. "In the money I save by walking, I can buy another book!" he'd exclaim. Many of the inexpensive books he'd buy were junk or Communist propaganda books dumped on India. They were colorfully printed, hard-bound, and one would think, "This book is only three bucks? Must be a great bargain!". One of my cousins started a circulating library from Baba's books, his collection was that big. My father (Bappa)loved good books. He was not affiliated with any library or institution, and to support his hobbies and research, he had to build a personal reference library. He had an eye for bargains -- he bought "second hand" books ("prior owned books" I think is the new way to reference them). The small used book store on Sampige Road between 2nd and 3rd cross roads of Malleswaram was a particular favorite, and the shop keeper offered special service to Bappa. Bappa even bought the used periodicals from him at a deeply discounted price. Anyway, one day Bappa saw one of his own books in the used books store and asked for pricing. Owner: "It is a very good book Sir. You want to buy it." Bappa: "Have you read it?" Owner: "No Sir, but I have read a different book by the same author. Very rarely his books come in my store, you really want to buy it Sir, because it will be gone very quickly" My dad had to buy it! The shop keeper had no clue that he just sold a book to the author! Just FYI, most of my dad's books are out of print. So if you see his books in a used book store, you can buy it and sell it at a higher price elsewhere. See Related Stories: Picture of a Used Periodical Vendor in Bangalore (and a story) Building of the Kamat Memorial Library and a place where you can make a donation. Holdings of Kamat Memorial Library (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Wednesday, August 9, 2006 Last Modified: 8/9/2006 11:18:32 PM

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