Reading....

Reading like I'm crazy- finished "Then We Came to the End" -- awesome book, not one person who works in a cubicle will fail to relate to it; and
"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"--very heavy, I think I'm sort of ambivalent about the book.
By the way, who thinks reading in the loo and then back in the room is yucky?
Show of hands please!
I don't, but I tend to do it on the sly--just wanted to check if the slyness was necessary ;)

Ulle Veliye

We made it to jail and back today!
Chennai's old prison, near Central, is about to be demolished, and the prison is now open for visitors. MIL and I finally made it today, and it was interesting to see how everybody was attracted to the gallows--as if the broken place would inspire some images of the macabre act of hanging a person to death.





There were tons of people--what was it that attracted us? It was sort of an outing for many, and an impromptu economy had sprung up, with nut, cigarette, water, fruit, tea, coffee, and, (take this) biryani hawkers!







The cells, stripped of any actuall possession, seemed like a movie set, sort of. But when I saw a mirror embedded in the wall, rather than standalone, I was reminded that this must have been a violent place indeed.




The prison is open until the High Court orders the demolition, and is open from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm (though people there said it's open until 5'ish or thereabouts). Newspapers said there would be a guide, but there was none--policewomen standing about answered questions, though.

Definitely worth a visit--if not to know stuff about the prison, definitely to know something about yourself!

And if you're a shutterbug, there's plenty of opportunities to take pictures.

How to get there:

Any bus that goes to Central Station, then walk. You'll see a long line of people walking down there.

MRTS: Get off at Park Town Station--it's not even a two-minute walk.

Electric Train (for lack of a better term): Get off at Park Station, and walk down.

Tip: When you get there, take the stairs immediately to the left of the gate on the bridge (passing by the sentry gate), and not the ramp--it's a much shorter walk.

It's Official I'm Not

Yup--been four days since I quit my job. AS in, since I stopped working. I figured I'd try this for a while--working is overrated anyway.
And it still hasn't sunk in.

I still go to sleep sort of planning what needs to be done, and think I only have early mornings and nights to do it.

I still go to sleep thinking which outfit I'll need to press the next morning, or most likely, which one doesn't need ironing!

I still think, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I can log into Microsoft Communicator, and chat with my colleagues about how bugging work is.

I still think I can live the "professional life" vicariously, just by staying abreast of happenings in the office.

I still think that I can somehow converse with my colleagues without missing a beat, and that weekly 5-minute calls will substitute the nearly 8 hours spent in the office everyday.

And most of all, I still think I care about what happens there.

Not sure when I'll wake up--but when I do, you'll hear about it!

Passion

Here's what I've discovered about myself after my 30-odd years of life--I lack a passion.

I know people who are passionate about different things:
Bridge --the game (no prizes for guessing who this is)
Cleaning
Cooking
Furniture-making
Music
Reading (one is even passionate about just biographies)
Philosophy
Gardening
Photography ... and many more.

But whenever I think about what I am really passionate about--I draw a blank.

I've tried music (not happening), writing (love it, but doesn't always get me pumped), photography (am not too good at it), and whatnot. But that single thing that can keep me going like an Energizer bunny has eluded me. Maybe with time, I can figure it out?

So how is someone's passion defined? And what's yours (if you have one)?