Shop On!! :P

Well, in life, you have good shopping-days and bad-shopping days. This was a bad shopping-day. I’ll tell you why. I went to this shop where I usually go to buy clothes. And I’m no shopaholic; I wouldn’t go out to buy new clothes unless I needed to. These days, I’m shopping a lot in preparation for my hostel-stay. So, there I was… trying on pairs of jeans one after the other in a tiny but thankfully fan-enabled changing room. Some were too large; some others gave me this ‘awkward’ feeling…! Well, I have this theory about jeans, when you try-on any pair of jeans for the very first time, you immediately know if it’s made for you or not. I heard about this ‘theory’ on the Oprah show once… and atleast for me, it actually seems to work. There are these times, when I wear a pair of jeans and it fits just perfectly! I mean it, perfect. The perfect match. Made for me.
Getting back to the point, this was one of those bad days and none of the jeans fit me right. And just at that point of mental saturation, in true last-but-not-the-least style, one did! Thank heavens! A low-waist thing, it fit perfectly, just that it was a bit too long, but length-alterations can be made easily, so I decided on this one and filled the alteration slip as the salesman took the measurements… No, that’s not the end... Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost! Next in line were T-shirts. Phew!

I took about 7-8 tees with me as I went into the changing room…
And came out satisfied with just one;
Then again, in and out with some more,
This time satisfied with none!
“Please don’t cry in agony”, I told my helpless friend,
As I kept trying-on tees;
“I’m really sorry sweetheart; I know you’re tired of waiting,
But I’m not happy with any of these!”

(Therefore, I’m not exactly a gifted-poetess… [:P])

I was plain disappointed. The last time I’d been there, he’d shown me such amazing tops… I’d set my eyes on this cute white top, with black polka dots… I tried to describe it to him... but he didn’t seem to have any idea… I told my friend in exasperation, “That girl!!” (The other day I’d seen a girl walking on the road, wearing it...) Darn! Finally then, I got tired, the ordeal had to end sometime. So I said, “Enough! That’s all. Bill banao!” and the salesman (also tired, I presume, though not more than me) passed on the pair of jeans and that one black tee.

These sad times are when you’re reminded of the happy times. Like the other day, when I’d been to Colaba Causeway with Roh and her soft-spoken and sweet cousin Yashu. I didn’t go there for any serious shopping, but still had a great time. First, I fii…nally got hold of a pair of peacock-feather earrings (earring-fetish, yes!) that I’d been wanting for a very long time. Then I surprised my dad by calling him and saying, “Guess where I am right now? Outside your office!”[:D] He then came down to see me and showed us around his office. Later, we went to the Gateway of India and were clicking pictures on our phones when I felt the first few droplets of rain-water! I couldn't believe it at first! But it was drizzling... and it did rain!! :))))))))) ! Right time, right place, pehli baarish, sea-facing... Wow!! It rained it rained!!!! Rain rain rain!! [:D] I shopped a little on the way back, smiling in enchantment! What is so magical about rain? I’m reminded of an SMS I’d received once, which said that rain is how the sky showers its love on the earth. [:)] Rain smells like my dreamworld… the classic geeli-maati-ki-khushboo, I’m fascinated by the raindrops, everything around is so fresh… even the here-and-there trees in our concrete jungle begin to look beautifully alive… I never enjoyed rain in my childhood, I hated it infact, because of the muck everywhere, dirty puddles on which ruthless cars drive just to splash your washed and neatly ironed school uniform with that detestable mixture of impurities! I can’t help but wonder at this perception shift… I now overlook those unpleasant aspects in my love for the rain… And why do I love rain? I don’t know why. It’s magical...! (Hehehh… back to square one, like the ‘vicious cycle of poverty’.) Well, so that evening, I felt like Alice in Wonderland! All the time, I was constantly exclaiming, “Wow, it's raining! Yayy!” For a change, Roh got irritated by me! Her cousin, however, didn’t. She joined me in the crazy-about-rain behaviour!! [:D] Had such a fun time!!

Shopping with mom:
I was just back from music class and as I lay on the bed for a while, mom sat beside me and started talking about how much shopping needed to be done and by when should it get over… and she suddenly says, "Chal, get up now and get ready, we’re going now!" I was my usual lethargic self but eventually got ready and we set out on our mission to complete a major portion of the shopping. We headed to this store and I tried on a few kurtis and we finally selected two and then we also got some cloth-pieces to be made into kurtis… we figured out it’d be a lot cheaper than the readymade ones, with no compromise on the quality! And then we headed to another store, picked up a t-shirt from there… a grey casual one and then went into a night-wear shop …. This is what I liked best. We picked up a night-dress in taupe-beige … I sooo loved it! And we also got a cute aquamarine-coloured night-suit. As soon as we came home, I ‘modelled’ all the new buys for my sister… the night-dress and the night-suit …O… so cute!!!! I loved them so much that I crazy-danced in the room in my excitement! [:D]

Shopping for night-wear is the best thing,
Feels like fantasy, so flattering,
This sudden state of bliss, to what do I impute?
My new night-wear that’s Oh! So cute!

Yes I’m laughing my heart out! Can’t believe I came up with this… LOL!!

The Making of the third line of my Night-wear poem:
Initially, the third line was ‘La la-la-la-la La la-la-la’, inspired by Phoebe from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. But then, I told myself, “C’mon, you can do better than la-la-la!!!” The rest is history. [:P]

Well, so my Great Shopping Spree did not end there. I later went to many other places and shopped… and shopped some more… lovely tees from Shoppers’ Stop. Deserving a special mention is this one which looks like a black ganjee over a pinstripe shirt and I absolutely adore it! I tried to make a colourful choice this time because many of my clothes are in black (favourite colour, yes)… So I opted for some colour as in yellow, peach-n-white, black with a large colourful butterfly and so on…

Many such shopping trips ensued… I’m going away for two years, after all! And now, when the day has almost arrived, I can satisfactorily and happily say that I’m all set!

Oh wait, did I tell you about my new Dell Inspiron laptop? Ahem… [;)]

In and as 'Yes woman'.

My ‘sensei’ (who teaches Japanese language) had invited us for the Annapoorna world food exhibition as she saw this as a good opportunity for us to taste Japanese food and to interact with Japanese people. Mwah sensei!!

14th November 2008.

It was 9:00 a.m. I’d told my friend Roh that I’d be meeting her at Ghatkopar station at 9:00 a.m. and there I was, already running late. What a great way to start the day! ( Wow, that rhymed!!! Er... way…day! Get it?!) I reached somehow… and as usual, poor thing, my friend… I could see fumes of frustration emanating from her head!! (Embarrassed) Anyway, then I faced some music… [:P], we boarded a bus and reached the venue in Goregaon. We entered and asked the watchman where the food exhibition was… and we also mentioned ‘Japanese food’. He directed us to a certain hall no. 6 where there was a Chinese electronic products exhibition! We went back, this time to another guard and told him, “Japanese please, not Chinese!...woh… khaane ka programme...” he then directed us to the right place!... we registered outside and were given an identity-card…Mine read : ‘Aarthi mohan. Business visitor.’ (?...ahem ahem!!)

The Japanese counter:
We entered and headed straight towards the ‘Japan’ part and saw our beloved sensei sitting there as a translator, telling people about ‘Sake’ – Japanese rice-wine. As we entered, the chef gave us some ‘Tofu’ to taste. It was basically bland, but the green coloured salt sprinkled on it was strong! So, you know… decent combination. Then, we were given some ‘Sake’… (saa-kay), which tasted like medicine! The tonic-medicine types! [:D] I doubt if I’ll ever be able to consume one full-glass of that… I’ll have it in teaspoons! Then we went and spoke to sensei for a few minutes and by then, she had to get back to work. We then went towards the fish … ahem… Personally, I saw this as a good chance to sample non-vegetarian food! There was this silver fish … which was cut and kept in pieces on a tray. “Okay, this is the moment… “, I said to myself. Fish, for the first-time ever! Well, then yeah I tasted it and it was…uhhm… fish-y! [:P] the typical smell et all. Silver skin and it went into my mouth!! Okay. The table opposite to this was fish-y again! I said “Yeah, I’ll go for it!! Today’s going to be all about trying new stuff!” This was a piece of fish with some Soya sauce over it (thankfully, not silver-skinned) I had that n whoa! It was awesome! What a stark difference! It tasted like cheese! And no smell!! I loved that!

Well, then we strolled around the place, visiting the counters of food-products of various countries. We had Belgian chocolates (dark, milk, caramel…. They were all divine! ).We had Indian butter-chicken. The Thai ‘Tom-Yum soup’ (pronounced as tom-kham soup) with cute tiny tomatoes was delicious. I loved it so much that I took-down its recipe! We also had Aloe Vera juice… and ‘felt’ healthy for a couple of minutes!! I even ‘felt’ my skin glowing… hahahh…! We went to the Italian cheese section… and tasted about four varieties from the popular Parmesan cheese to the not-so-popular Gorgonzola and Provolone cheeses. And also learnt ‘Grazia’ for ‘thank you’ and ‘Pregon’ for ‘you’re welcome’.

We also came across a Humane Society International table, where the representative told us about the organization. The pamphlet reads, “You may not know that most eggs in India come from hens confined in tiny wire ‘battery-cages’. The birds spend their lives in cages so small that they can barely move, much less spread their wings. More than 150 million laying hens in India are confined in this manner. This is simply too much abuse to swallow.” Hmm… No, I’m not advertising for them, but those interested to know more about their campaign against the use of battery-cages may visit hsi.org/India/compassion

As we were leaving the Chinese counter, my friend said “Aarigato”, to which the woman inside exclaimed “Aarigato is not our language!” [:D] Then she taught us ‘Shye-shye’ (thank-you) and ‘Sai-shye’ (goodbye). We went to the German counter where there was this blue-eyed German man with ginger-bread. He was surprisingly friendly (i.e. a good salesperson) … he and my friend got talking about soccer/football! Roh mentioned that she roots for Germany and he handed her a German flag! He asked me if I’d like to have one too, to which I said, “No thanks. I don’t really follow the sport.” And then, he asked Roh, “If there were a match held between India and Germany in India, which team would you root for?!” Even though the question was not put to me, I said, “India obviously!” just as Roh said “Germany!” Lol!! We’d had enough of his blue-eyes by then… and decided to move on…we said ‘Danke’ (thank you) and bade him ‘Bitte’ (good-bye).

We returned to the Japanese counter in time for their cooking show. Sushi was being served. Yay! It had been on my mind ever since I joined Japanese-language classes! The sushi was ‘oishii’!! We sampled Japanese green tea, which was o..kayish. I’d prefer the normal ‘chai’ any day! Also, on the menu was ‘Yellow-tailed Shabushabu’. [:P] ‘Shabushabu’ really sounds funny! We thought, "Hey shabushabu, we're coming!!" … and ....frankly, we didn’t like it! Okay the fish was tender and all, but the fish-y stench was too much to bear. But, the chef was in front of us and other people literally searching our faces for signs of ‘Wow! It’s great!’ I somehow managed to finish it, along with a smile… and came up with a modest “Yeah, it’s good… Thank you!” That was difficult! We left immediately, to search for some chocolate counter around!! We found a dried-fruit counter and I put a small piece of dried guava in my mouth… and we looked around till we spotted an Indian chocolate counter! Waqt aane par apne hi kaam aate hain!! Hehe… then we picked up a chocolate from there, whilst talking to the people there… the customary ‘hello’s and went off for some more wandering…

Time for the highlight of the whole experience… We reached the European Excellence arena where there were people having red-wine! Aha… We looked at each other and our eyes said, “Now this is something… Chal, let’s try!” [;)] I was a little apprehensive but eventually, temptation got the better of me! Yeah, okay! It was temptation and the cute European someone who told me, “Don’t worry, just one glass won’t make you heady!” Well, well! We watched as the wine was being generously poured into our glasses! First sip: It’s bitter!! [:D] Second sip: Okay, not so bad! And then, the third … and the fourth … fifth ... and so on ! We were enjoying it! Haha!

We were obviously in very high spirits that day! It was a feel-great experience! And we went home rejoicing!! [;)]