Was in Bangalore for a few days earlier this week. On work, of course, which went rather well i must say. Maybe stuff on it later.

Visited a much better stocked crossword store at the Garuda mall - a stone's throw from my Hotel. Acquired copies of:

a) this - not too inspiring (for now). Did a story or two. But the bloke was at his prime a few decades ago. Must have been Avante Garde, back then. I guess. We'll see, wont we ?

b) The highly recommended The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro (Some of her stuff on the New Yorker, mind you, are tedious. But WTF, worth a shot ) - yet to open, of course.

c) John Le Carre's : The Constant Gardener. (yeah, the filmy* cover and all. But then, with someone as delectable as her featured, surely we can make an exception!). Light and engaging so far, i must admit.

My wonderful hotel also had a dusty old bookcase with quite a few treasures in it. The housekeeper / receptionist was kind enough to let me take with me a lovely 1982 edition of this and ' A day in Venice: New practical guide of the town' (completely revised, 22nd edition released in 1987. ) - about 125 pages of colourful imagery and madly wonkish descriptions of Venice's sites & sounds. Both books, of course, in mint condition and the receptionist, i dont know what he thought, just handed them to me and insisted that i take them with me, compliments of the hotel :x

(Koi padtha nahin hai sahib, aapko chahiye tho leke jao. Sab second hand mein liya, madam ne)

[ P.s Staying on the subject of the Constant Gardener - Please do NOT click on this if you are a fan, like i was, of Ralph Fiennes. And he was on his way to an AIDS conference for pete's sake!]