It was the Thanksgiving weekend, myself and 'Da-Man' Manu decided to go to the mall to wile away some precious time. Causative factor- being clueless, jobless, every utterly worthless thought rolled into one BIG FAT reason! Wonder of wonders, Manu was all geared for it and for a minute I had my doubts. I decided to find out if it was for real.
I pinched my skin and up went a jolt, right through me. Flinching from the pain, I opened my eyes which had closed involuntarily from the pain and was I surprised at the intensity of it or what?? Decided I had to delve into the matter which had expected to be just a couple of seconds and a simple earthly procedure. Somehow, I remembered that my nails were intact this week, that I had actually forgotten to trim them, Err.. mean bite them! SO, it actually pained when I exhibited some cannibalistic tendencies. Reminded myself-- "Meera, honey... NEVER EVER do that to yourself again". Made an advance New Year resolution to frequently bite my nails, trim them or if I didn't, not to pinch myself. Pushing the aspect of pain aside, we headed towards the mall.
We reached the mall and our usual parking spots were already exhibiting territoriality. One too many days, I have been to the same mall more than once in a day and have been successful in getting the same parking spots. Isn't that unbelievable? Now, you may ask me 'why would one go to the same mall more than once in any given day'? I may evade your Q for such is the mysterious magnetic field that the mall emits and my house actually comes within the 'will-definitely-get-affected-zone' radius.
After 15 minutes of taking an unsuccessful ride through the scenic parking lot, I could almost hear Manu's irritation reflect in his demeanor. My eyes quickly scanned the area, and managed to steer the vehicle into the first open slot available. By the time we got out, Manu's irritation had vanished into thin air and I made a mental note to be more like him. Just switch it on and off? Boy! how does he even manage it?
We stepped into the mall and looked up the directory to go to a couple of specific stores. Just as we started walking, a sound akin to bee buzzing wafted past me just in time to realise that this was indeed the first time I was shopping during a holiday weekend. The sheer number of humans there, made us feel almost insignificant for a second!
As the shops passed us on both sides of the corridor, the self grew pretty exultant when the Red Tag Sale Boards were sighted at almost every conceivable corner! My jubilant mood didn't last long, for I suddenly sensed a presence next to me, and I found staring into Da-Man's eyes and that said it all- DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
OK- I consoled my tormented soul, applied a balm, and made a vow to come back the next day sans Manu ofcourse...
We did some random shopping and then we chanced upon my most favourite haunt. I trudged in happily, and very soon lost track of Manu who was trying to keep up with the just-now-normal-but-changed-creepy-witch-girl that I had turned into. Broom was possibly the only thing I lacked, to supplement the imagination. We finally met up, he selected some trousers and we went to the billing counter. The mile long queue wasn't encouraging but we silently stood next to each other taking in the sites and sounds of the world around us. Ahem, correction- Bee Buzz filled world around us.
As my eyes did a 360* turn, I happened to see an Indian family standing just ahead of us. There was the daddy, the mommy, the infant in a travel system alongside thaatha & paati. The thaatha was attempting quite hard to meet my eyes and when I did, gave a hearty warm grin. Needless to state, I politely reciprocated the gesture with one of my best smiles ever (for those of you who do not know the 'dashing smile' of mine, please do make it a point to ask Manu, for he's never passed up an oppurtunity to ridicule me on that account). I noticed that the family had only a couple of items to bill and the mommy seemed to be carrying all of it. Suddenly, there were a few hurried whispers and before I could realise what was happening, the family started moving to the right, out of the billing line. I happily thought "Ah at last! they have opened up another counter to manage the enormous holiday shoppers'. Obviously, I followed suit. Before I took the 3rd step, I stopped dead in my tracks for I saw the mommy returning to the line with the armload of things to be billed. I scampered back realising "Oh No.. I lost my place in the line". It was then that I caught Manu still in line, quizzically looking which I thought implied 'Meera, chellam... You have just outdone yourself!'
It just happened that the family had decided not to hog the line when only the mommy was going to bill the stuff. So, the good natured mommy had taken the child, daddy, thaatha, paatti and safely deposited them near the entrance. Shouldn't I be warned against happenings like these? How am I supposed to know their tactics at making extra space for holiday standers?? A good thought nonetheless, but you see what I mean right?
I then slid back into my world of giggles and unabashed grinning, ones I have grown so accustomed to. Somehow, Manu found it utterly amusing and chuckling kept him busy right through!
As for me, it was just another routine cycle, my day dreaming and my dashing smile episodes. I guess Manu just got lucky to see the dreamy me- for once.
My dreamy shopping escapade came to an end, but my smiles kept me awake long into the night. I introspected about the hundred or so episodes like these, to which the only witness has been 'Yours Truly'.
Well, Well...
P.S: I am 'thrilled' to say that in addition to all this, I was also Miss Butter Fingers. Yet another episode came up when I dropped the trouser I was carrying; PLOP! it stuck itself to the floor and the cashier gave me "the worm" look. The most amused of the lot was evidently 'Da-Man', silently restraining himself from laughing out loud!
I pinched my skin and up went a jolt, right through me. Flinching from the pain, I opened my eyes which had closed involuntarily from the pain and was I surprised at the intensity of it or what?? Decided I had to delve into the matter which had expected to be just a couple of seconds and a simple earthly procedure. Somehow, I remembered that my nails were intact this week, that I had actually forgotten to trim them, Err.. mean bite them! SO, it actually pained when I exhibited some cannibalistic tendencies. Reminded myself-- "Meera, honey... NEVER EVER do that to yourself again". Made an advance New Year resolution to frequently bite my nails, trim them or if I didn't, not to pinch myself. Pushing the aspect of pain aside, we headed towards the mall.
We reached the mall and our usual parking spots were already exhibiting territoriality. One too many days, I have been to the same mall more than once in a day and have been successful in getting the same parking spots. Isn't that unbelievable? Now, you may ask me 'why would one go to the same mall more than once in any given day'? I may evade your Q for such is the mysterious magnetic field that the mall emits and my house actually comes within the 'will-definitely-get-affected-zone' radius.
After 15 minutes of taking an unsuccessful ride through the scenic parking lot, I could almost hear Manu's irritation reflect in his demeanor. My eyes quickly scanned the area, and managed to steer the vehicle into the first open slot available. By the time we got out, Manu's irritation had vanished into thin air and I made a mental note to be more like him. Just switch it on and off? Boy! how does he even manage it?
We stepped into the mall and looked up the directory to go to a couple of specific stores. Just as we started walking, a sound akin to bee buzzing wafted past me just in time to realise that this was indeed the first time I was shopping during a holiday weekend. The sheer number of humans there, made us feel almost insignificant for a second!
As the shops passed us on both sides of the corridor, the self grew pretty exultant when the Red Tag Sale Boards were sighted at almost every conceivable corner! My jubilant mood didn't last long, for I suddenly sensed a presence next to me, and I found staring into Da-Man's eyes and that said it all- DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
OK- I consoled my tormented soul, applied a balm, and made a vow to come back the next day sans Manu ofcourse...
We did some random shopping and then we chanced upon my most favourite haunt. I trudged in happily, and very soon lost track of Manu who was trying to keep up with the just-now-normal-but-changed-creepy-witch-girl that I had turned into. Broom was possibly the only thing I lacked, to supplement the imagination. We finally met up, he selected some trousers and we went to the billing counter. The mile long queue wasn't encouraging but we silently stood next to each other taking in the sites and sounds of the world around us. Ahem, correction- Bee Buzz filled world around us.
As my eyes did a 360* turn, I happened to see an Indian family standing just ahead of us. There was the daddy, the mommy, the infant in a travel system alongside thaatha & paati. The thaatha was attempting quite hard to meet my eyes and when I did, gave a hearty warm grin. Needless to state, I politely reciprocated the gesture with one of my best smiles ever (for those of you who do not know the 'dashing smile' of mine, please do make it a point to ask Manu, for he's never passed up an oppurtunity to ridicule me on that account). I noticed that the family had only a couple of items to bill and the mommy seemed to be carrying all of it. Suddenly, there were a few hurried whispers and before I could realise what was happening, the family started moving to the right, out of the billing line. I happily thought "Ah at last! they have opened up another counter to manage the enormous holiday shoppers'. Obviously, I followed suit. Before I took the 3rd step, I stopped dead in my tracks for I saw the mommy returning to the line with the armload of things to be billed. I scampered back realising "Oh No.. I lost my place in the line". It was then that I caught Manu still in line, quizzically looking which I thought implied 'Meera, chellam... You have just outdone yourself!'
It just happened that the family had decided not to hog the line when only the mommy was going to bill the stuff. So, the good natured mommy had taken the child, daddy, thaatha, paatti and safely deposited them near the entrance. Shouldn't I be warned against happenings like these? How am I supposed to know their tactics at making extra space for holiday standers?? A good thought nonetheless, but you see what I mean right?
I then slid back into my world of giggles and unabashed grinning, ones I have grown so accustomed to. Somehow, Manu found it utterly amusing and chuckling kept him busy right through!
As for me, it was just another routine cycle, my day dreaming and my dashing smile episodes. I guess Manu just got lucky to see the dreamy me- for once.
My dreamy shopping escapade came to an end, but my smiles kept me awake long into the night. I introspected about the hundred or so episodes like these, to which the only witness has been 'Yours Truly'.
Well, Well...
P.S: I am 'thrilled' to say that in addition to all this, I was also Miss Butter Fingers. Yet another episode came up when I dropped the trouser I was carrying; PLOP! it stuck itself to the floor and the cashier gave me "the worm" look. The most amused of the lot was evidently 'Da-Man', silently restraining himself from laughing out loud!
5 comments:
Your blog.. totally matches your blogsites name! Absolutely zilch!
But still an interesting read about nothing (although, I was looking for some twist.. turn.. Hmmm.. finished like a satyajitray movie!)
Hey...I felt like I was talking to you while reading this!
meema athai, love this post., esp since I was there to see u dart in and out of those shopping lines. :)
Yeah- I bet you were!
(-;
Funny.. I would have laughed too if I were there to watch your dancing (in & out) :)
I am sure it will be while before I drag mano along with you for shopping!
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