Green, Kostova, Satrapi and Me *BFF*

The routine stays the same everyday. I see myself doing the same set of things in its predetermined order. But any monotony that could have descended is easily kept at bay. How, you ask me, and I credit my girlfriends. 

First, there is Anna who quenches the thirst of my love for two things: investigative thrills and period settings. Oh, how I love the scandalous happenings that unfold right in the middle of a ball, or high tea and ruin the prospects of a lady or the good name of that gentleman who desires her hand. She tells me all about it and in such details, oh my! The chivalry, the social mores, and the decided way of life in those times dictates how the detective will come to his/her clues and how they are to be interpreted. It is interesting and stimulating to see how secrets are revealed without the DNA profiling, CCTV footage, and the whole gamut of forensic props.

Not that I don't like them, don't you read me wrong here, I love watching Rizzoli and Isles but then there's no debating that The Mentalist takes the cake. Well, well, let's not digress here.

The sheer brilliance of mind games when read in words in the novels of Anna Katherine Green makes you realise that the satisfaction of having read her books is absolutely complete. In my opinion, Anna's Amelia Butterworth and Ebenezer Gryce are more interesting than Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Poirot respectively; and a very good precursor to Sherlock Holmes. She is my BFF while in office. 

Well, if you are arching your eyebrows in a look which is meant to say, 'In office!' Calm down and log in to booksshouldbefree.com and plug in your earphones. Listen to the audio books and carry on with your work.

The 9 to 5 job finally clocks out. I gather my belongings, run to catch the lift, and then single-mindedly walk towards the metro station. In my race to park by derrière in the first available seat in a metro, I'm grumbling and giving the stink-eye to every portly uncle and aunty who takes too much time than necessary to keep me from reaching my goal. I'm not a grump. I'm looking forward to my time with Elizabeth, the 45 minute train-ride with her gives me the goosebumps of apprehension and romance. 

Elizabeth has so much to say about 15th century history of the Balkans and, of course, about my crush, Drakulya (yes, I mean Dracula and no, I'm not showing off). It is mesmerising to hear her, to go on the journey she describes. She is Elizabeth Kostova and she makes me want to be The Historian every time I turn another page on her adventure.

The commute with my BFF Elizabeth goes by like a dream and after I get down without her, you can see the return of a frown around my mouth. I'm now mentally adding and organising my chores at home. Cooking, cleaning, the works... But there's light at the other end, Marjane would be waiting for me before going to bed. 

After the exhaustion of the whole day is over, Marjane cracks me up with her subtle humour and relaxes me. I adore the way she talks, its so good we decided to be friends. Before I switch off the light, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is right next to my pillow as a promise that she will talk to me again tomorrow night, same time, same place.