'Landmark' visit

After a gap of some months went to Landmark at Citi Centre, looking for a birthday gift for my brother. The entrance itself was enchanting with a colorful display of books and the whole place smelled like a perfumed car interior. The buffet of a riot of books was too much to digest as the bookstore was wearing a new look with the popular Tamil books occupying the front rows.

After so many years, I was surprised to see the full dialogue book of the Rudriah movie 'அவள் அப்படித்தான் '.  More prominent was the presence of the recent sensation on "Rajiv Assasination' by the erstwhile SIT official Ragothaman. Amongst the usual heaps of Sujatha & Balakumaran, what I noticed as different was the mushrooming of every popular book translated in Tamil. I could see Robin Sharma, Rangarajan of Infinithoughts & also many self development books but the one that stopped me on my tracks was ' யார் என் சீசை நகர்த்தியது'- an exact translation of "Who moved my Cheese"- It was difficult not to be reminded of Junoon & also suppress a laugh!

But, along with the colorful wrapper the prices were also prohibitive; perhaps the publishers have included the overall costs also liberally. Saw a medium sized book 'Make or Break" and while I was making up my mind, the cost broke my thought & also my back and I hastily moved to the next rack!!

Surprised to see some Dummies book after a long long time - this time not for Windows and Internet, but for Social networking, Blogging & a separate one for LinkedIn!! It was difficult to resist travelling back to those days of 'Dummies'.

I was disappointed not to get either of the books I was angling for - 'Road less Traveled'  & Parthibhan's Kavithaigal- both out of stock.

A visit to Landmark will not be complete without browsing through the maze of CDs and the host of stationery items where the old time 'Maths notebook' which we used to buy for Rs 2.50 was priced at Rs 25/-. But still, I could not help have a feel of the smooth pages before leaving with a book of Sudoku for my bro. Considering the cost of the articles inside , still the car parking fees of Rs 30/- was much less and I wonder when this will also be jacked up  - a price that the reading habit has to pay !

While I was wondering about the increasing prices of books and driving on the R.K.Salai, I was shocked to see the turbaned and heavily silk swathed bridegroom on a horseback in front of a popular marriage hall being unceremoniously thrown off the mule's back, as it was clearly overwhelmed by the crowd and loud music. Though it was very disturbing to see the Mappillai in such a posture, it was fortunate that he did not sustain any major injury, as he hastily got up to cover the embarrassment. Hope the boy takes it in his stride and does not feel being thrown off the pedestal even before the marriage!