Started Driving and Reading!!!!

Since the incident I mentioned in my last post, I have traveled twice in bus - to my hometown and to Bengaluru. Both times I made sure I followed things properly to avoid the occurrence of same incident again and I'm glad to say it didn't happen.

Also, I finally got the Yamaha Ray ZR Scooter which I booked this week on Wednesday 12/09/2018 after a long delay. The reasons for the delay were: 

i) There was a rule change which imposes that the new vehicles should have 5 years insurance instead of current one year limit, so the dealers were asking for some extension for them to implement this rule. 

ii) The usual delay which happens in any paperwork 

iii) Superstitious reasons such as I shouldn't buy or receive a new vehicle on Tuesday which I'm not supposed to ask why. So even though the scooter was ready for pickup on Tuesday, I had to pick it up on Wednesday.

For the past 3-4 days, I'm driving the vehicle with my friend in the backseat guiding me to and fro from room to office. As expected I struggled(ling) a lot. I couldn't balance in the first place. I leave so much gap between my vehicle and the vehicle in front of me, that cars are entering and filling the space in between. Moreover, I get scared a lot when suddenly some one comes in front of me or overtakes me and I loose balance immediately. My friend almost lost his cool a couple of times due to my driving. First day I went to office and came back to room safely, without any damage to me or the vehicle. But unfortunately my shoes got worn down because I kept touching both my feet on the road while driving , whenever I loose balance. Good I didn't start driving with my slippers on.

The 2nd day, I scraped onto a another bike and fortunately there was no damage incurred to either the vehicle or the person riding it, but i got slightly injured on my foot. After that, my friend was skeptical to sit behind me any more and mostly he drove for the next couple of days if he was with me. I drove only when I went somewhere alone. After that, not many incidents have happened and I'm driving somewhat ok now.

For the last two weekends I was not in Chennai, so this weekend I thought I will stay back and will definitely visit some place. I started checking few places where I can go for the weekend. I wanted to go to Higginbothams, the book store in Mt.Road ever since I came to Chennai, so that was on my list. Then I found this place called Theosophical society near Adyar, which seems like a very calm place to hang out. Theosophy means study of God or nature, something like that. Then the 3rd place in my list was the 'Anna Centennial Library' in Kotturpuram. A bookstore, a theosophical garden and a library. Just mentioning these options to my colleagues, they looked at me like I'm a nerd or a nut job. I finally decided to go the library. All the bachelor friends I know in Chennai, are the ones with whom I'm sharing the apartment. One friend was busy getting married this week. So I asked another to accompany me to the library on Sunday. Only because I'm not confident enough to drive alone to a new place yet.

On Sunday, as expected my friend backed out citing some other appointment. But I was sure that I wasn't going to spend entire weekend just sleeping in my room. So I told him that I'm going alone. He warned me to take the auto as he is still not confident about my driving. But I told I will drive properly and took off alone. It was just 8 kms away from my home and before leaving I checked the route properly. Surprisingly I reached there in 10 mins without bumping into anyone.

I parked the scooter in the parking lot and got very excited to enter the building. Its an 8 storey building which all belonged to the library. There is a self-book-reading section in the ground and first floor and there were many people in there reading, writing etc. The entire building was pretty silent. I went up to the 2nd floor which is dedicated wholly to Tamil books. Once I entered that floor, I couldn't contain my excitement. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Everything I saw, I wanted to taste it. Historical fictional works by authors like Kalki, Sandilyan, recent books by Vairamuthu, Jeyamohan, books on Tamil history, Indian history, short stories, Novellas, novels, articles, essays, Sangam Literature along with explanation, Tamil epics, even translation of famous other language books such as War and Peace, one shelf just for books about Periyar, one shelf just for books about Anna and one for books written by Anna, Indian constitution, Right to information Act and many law related books all in Tamil. It was overwhelming. I spent almost an hour just looking around thinking 'I wanted to read this', 'I didn't knew these books exist', 'i would like to read these', 'wowww...this is too much to take'. I felt dizzy actually by looking at that floor full of Tamil books.

Then I told myself that I shouldn't waste my time in just browsing and should actually start reading something. So I started the first book which caught my attention the moment I entered, which is a book titled 'Kandeebam', written by Jeyamohan as a part of series called "Venmurasu" based on characters from Mahabharatha. He has written 18 of these and this 'Kandeebam' was the 8th book. This book is about Arjuna, his 4 wives and his bow Kandeebam. I started reading in the same floor, they had many sofas and tables with A/c on, so it was very comfortable to sit and read. Only problem was that I had cold and I was coughing and sneezing every now and then and I couldn't sit and cough there, disturbing others. So I was rushing to the restroom every 15-20 minutes to clear my throat, nose etc and thus couldn't read in a flow.  So with this intermittent  disturbance, I read till 7PM and completed around 90 pages. The library doesn't lend books, so I couldn't check out any. I think that's actually better, because people won't be responsible enough in returning the books on time or in good condition or pay the dues properly. It anyway works out for me as the Library is nearby and I can manage to drive now. I can come whenever I'm free and sit and read in a peaceful environment.

Before leaving I went to the 4th floor to see if it has all the English novels which I want to read and to my happiness, everything I was looking for were there. And with the computers in each corners and proper indexing, it wasn't difficult to locate the books either. I couldn't believe it's a public library in Chennai. Wish they could also maintain the washrooms. Some portions of the building are still under construction and I think there's a conference room, amphitheater etc. There was a food court too and an Aavin Milk(similar to Dairy queen) parlor inside the building. So yes, I finally found the perfect place where I can read peacefully. If you can't find me in my office or in room in Chennai, now you know where I'll be.

My book count now is at 16/30 and i'm still 4 books behind schedule, but now I have hopes that I'll catch up soon.

Badminton, I didn't play much in the last couple of weeks. Should continue that properly.

Now that I'm driving, I'm hoping to explore new places and things to do. Going all Solo! Let's see how it goes....