Waking up before the alarm can make one feel quite pleased with themselves. It renders a sense of calm, and the rude shock of suddenly waking up from deep sleep to a monotonous beep beep of a phone alarm is absent. Anyhow, that's how my Saturday started. I had big plans for the day. Or as big as I can manage for the first day of a weekend anyway. I had already decided what I wanted to eat for breakfast- one side of a burger bun (which I was treating as a bagel) with cream cheese and some aloo bhujiya sprinkled on top (that's an Indian savoury snack). It was quite delicious, and as I was eating and surfing the channels for something good to watch (as is my habit), I chanced upon The Deathly Hallows-Part 1. Obviously I ended up watching the whole thing. That kind of wasted some time I could've used in getting ready, but it didn't make too much of a difference really. Anyway, I got ready to step out after that, but clearing phone memory in order to take a picture (and tweet it) gained more importance, and I got later than intended. Also, felt hungry so I thought I might as well eat a ligth lunch before stepping out as it was 12:10 by then, and I had no plans to eat next before 5 pm. (I'll come to the reason in a bit)
So the first course of action was to visit a public library. I am quite an avid reader, and books here in Istanbul are quite expensive (specially when converted to INR), probably also because english books are not as abundant and hence, the higher price. To put things in perspective, a movie ticket at a nice mutliplex in a mall costs half as much as an english book. So, seeing as how I love to read and all, I thought it was high time I became a member of a library here. (Had been thinking about it last year, but never got around to visiting any). I was also to attend this pop-up food event at Souq Karakoy along with some people of the Foodie meetup group later in the evening, so I thought I'd pass my time in the library (or two) for 2/3 hours and then go over to the event. But, as I said, I got a little late in leaving my house, and then google maps guided me to the wrong entrance to the library. In fact, it wasn't the entrance at all,and I had to trudge up the road and circle back to near the starting point, only to discover a long line of people standing outside the entrance. This is probably the right time to mention I meant to visit the Ataturk Kitapligi, which is one of the most popular public libraries in Istanbul, and last year, became the first one to turn into a 24 hr library.
So the first course of action was to visit a public library. I am quite an avid reader, and books here in Istanbul are quite expensive (specially when converted to INR), probably also because english books are not as abundant and hence, the higher price. To put things in perspective, a movie ticket at a nice mutliplex in a mall costs half as much as an english book. So, seeing as how I love to read and all, I thought it was high time I became a member of a library here. (Had been thinking about it last year, but never got around to visiting any). I was also to attend this pop-up food event at Souq Karakoy along with some people of the Foodie meetup group later in the evening, so I thought I'd pass my time in the library (or two) for 2/3 hours and then go over to the event. But, as I said, I got a little late in leaving my house, and then google maps guided me to the wrong entrance to the library. In fact, it wasn't the entrance at all,and I had to trudge up the road and circle back to near the starting point, only to discover a long line of people standing outside the entrance. This is probably the right time to mention I meant to visit the Ataturk Kitapligi, which is one of the most popular public libraries in Istanbul, and last year, became the first one to turn into a 24 hr library.
