A Day Off

I took the day off yesterday as I had reached another milestone, having finished typing half the manuscript of my first novel. There is still the other half left but I felt happy I’d got to the half way mark. I had typed twelve pages a day in the last couple of days and was feeling quite tired so I took the break, from work and also from typing. I got a lot done yesterday running here and there on errands.

Buying a Keyboard
The year is almost nearing its half way mark but my New Year resolution to listen to more music remains just that- a resolution. The same is with my other music related resolution- the iPod, which too remains a dream. However, this resolution is set to take an entirely new dimension. I am going to learn to play the keyboard! It so happens that my kid chose the keyboard as an extracurricular activity at his school. So I had to buy one for him. Yesterday we went to a store and picked up the model recommended by his tutor. It cost me three thousand rupees but I guess it is worth it since there’d be two people learning on it. AR Rahman, here I come.

Another Book
Then, in tune with my practice of rewarding myself for reaching goals I set for myself, I decided to buy a book for myself so I dropped in at a second hand book store. I found Michael Ruhlman’s ‘The Soul of a Chef’, a hardcover first edition that I got for a hundred and twenty rupees. I remember one of my resolutions was to learn to cook so I thought first reading about how chefs go about it might motivate me to put this resolution into practice. More about the book sometime later.

Another Chai Break

Before going to buy a book for myself I dropped in at another Irani restaurant in Secunderabad that too has customers spilling over onto the road outside. I wanted to see if it was because the place was too small or if its tea was so good the customers didn't mind standing on the road to drink it. It was the Blue Sea on the road to the Keyes Girls High School from Secunderabad. I will write about the experience in a later post.