For one year, in 2005 or 2006 I think, they had the sale inside the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium, in the rooms of the cricket association. You got to see ornate portraits of famous Karnataka state cricketers like Gundappa Viswanath, Erapalli Prasanna, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, and others, and from the windows you got to see the lush green carpet-like field of the cricket stadium. Unfortunately, that sale was not repeated at the venue the next year, because the powers-that-be did not like the mass of book lovers thronging the exclusive domain of the cricket association's members. So, for the next two years the sale did happen at the stadium, but in one of the narrow rooms at the periphery of the stadium. Over the year-end break I will try and post photos from those sales.
For the last year or two the sale has been happening at Basava Bhavan, near the Chalukya Hotel. This year is no different, and the sale continues till Sunday Dec 12.
View Larger Map Map showing Basava Bhavan. It is triangulated by Palace Road, Sankey's Road, and Millers Road
Coming from Raj Bhavan Road, you need to make a right on to Sankey Road, then an immediate right at Sankey's Road, and then again an immediate right on to Miller's Road. The entrance to Basava Bhavan as well as parking can be found on this road.
The sale is split across two levels of the hall. This is the photo of the top level. As you can see they have made arrangements for extra tubelights to light up the place, because, you do need light if you are going to browse through tens of thousands of books and flip through them. Thoughtful.
This is the lower level, with books on cookery, design, and three full rows of books on children and for children.
Classics can be had for Rs 150.
This stacked arrangement of books makes it very hard to read the titles of the books on display. Given the shortage of space it is understandable, but nonetheless, to go over the titles you need to crane your neck sideways and then start shifting in one direction. And then hope that the books have all been stacked in the same direction, else you have to crane your neck the other way to read the title, and then crane it back, and so on. Not good.
The Cluetrain Manifesto: 10th Anniversary Edition
The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World
Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East
The books themselves do not seem to be arranged in any particular theme, beyond the very broad themes of fiction and non-fiction. Within non-fiction there is a wide assortment to be had, sometimes right next to each other. A book on the psychology and science of shopping is right below one on microfinancing, which is adjacent to a book on Six Sigma.
The Faber Report: How Wall Street Really Works-And How You Can Make It Work For You
Creating a World Without Poverty Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
What is Design for Six Sigma
Case in point below. A book on "Pricing Derivatives" has books on "Bourgeois Hinduism", "An End To Suffering", and "Proust" for company. Go figure.
How Proust Can Change Your Life
An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World
Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud
Among others, I picked up these three books:
Leading Change
Best of Sherlock Holmes (Wordsworth Classics)
(Google Books link)A Rasika's Journey Through Hindustani Music
(A Rasika's Journey Through Hindustani Music by Rajeev Nair | Flipkart Books from Flipkart.com)And other books from this post...
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© 2010, Abhinav Agarwal. All rights reserved