Chennai trip

Drove to chennai for the long weekend. Froze two bottles of water imagining it would be a hot drive; it turned out to be a cloudy, rainy drive, almost monsoon like conditions. I ate a lot, walked some - more like wandered aimlessly in mylapore streets and spent the time in election news and family gossip.

Briefly stopped to see the swanky Anna centenary library. Stunning complex, shining rows of books, computer terminals, sofas to sit... I had to ask myself if I was dreaming. Predictably the children's section was the most bustling with activity followed by the magazine section. The philosophy, sociology, culture sections hardly had anyone. I wondered if I should optimistically be thrilled about the fact that many parents were bringing their children to the library. The cynical part of me wondered if it is truly a love of books and knowledge and if so why weren't the parents themselves flocking the other floors. Thankfully there were lots of books to grab my attention and I didn't spend too much time dwelling on such dilemmas.

When I walked out the sky was dark and I stood out sometime staring at the modern structure. Would it have been money better spent to revamp the Connemara library and all the district central libraries?

Ah, well..What do I know!