Shopping at it's best

Shopping has been one of the favourite pastimes of people especially the young. The mushrooming of malls in the city, along with the flourishing flea markets only confirm the fact. The idea of going to yet another mall with a friend who too didn't have better plans to spend the weekend, appealed to me. We decided to meet at 11 o clock in the morning. "Isn't it too early?" she complained when I suggested the idea. I squeezed on her by saying that it gets too crowded by the afternoon, and we could leave for our homes after having an early lunch and take a nap in the afternoon.

The digital clock in my mobile showed 10:59 AM when I got off the auto to see the Shopper's Stop hoarding in front of Ansal Plaza, one of the first malls in Delhi. I called up Vaishali to ask till where had she reached. She assured that she'll be there in another 15 minutes, but the silence in the background suggested that she'll take at least another 40 minutes to get ready and reach. I walked up till the stairs to get into the air conditioned environment. As soon as I stepped into the mall, a hefty man wearing a Navy Blue uniform who was busy frisking other men, paged me to the other side, where a lady in Blue was waiting for my arrival. I expected her to rummage my bag to search for an explosive or a gun that was rarely found in ladies hand bags, but I guess she had already been disappointed of not getting any success in the explosive-hunt. She did her menial job of unzipping my bag, glancing at the contents and zipping it back. An instrument beeped to confirm that I didn't carry ammunitions.

I had already made up my mind to have a bag of French fries at Mc Donald's, that's the only place in the whole place where I could have an affordable snack and sit for a long time without waiters having to indicate that it's time to leave.  I stepped into the family restaurant to find everyone but families- young couples cuddling each other and sharing a Coke on a table of two, a gang of girls having burgers and fries, teens celebrating birthdays and rambunctious group of boys having a gala time. I realized, I wasn't the only one who chose an economic Mc Donald's treat for myself over a shopping spree with hardly any money left in the account in the last week of the month. Not being able to find a place for myself, I dropped the idea, and turned back to head towards the escalators leading to the first floor.

The sweet smell of the perfumes on the ground floor lured me into the ground floor of Shoppers' Stop.  I had no intention to buy things for myself. The fact that things overflow from my cupboard and drawers does not prevent me from indulging in my addiction. It was the financial crunch that suddenly appeared towards the end of the each month that made me think twice.  With nothing better to do I started gazing through the New Arrivals, checking out the quality and claiming that it was too expensive for the quoted price. I gracefully avoided the Salesmen who were lingering around me trying to "help me out" find something I liked. A yellow banner on one of the sections caught my attention. "Rs 299 for any garment" It read.  I started browsing though the clothes, jackets with an MRP of 999, sweatshirts of MRP 699, and many other T shirts which would've otherwise costed 499. Suddenly, the price of the garments seemed reasonable to me and I picked up a few. One doesn't get such bargains everyday, I thought. My cellphone started singing, I picked up the phone and said" Vaishali, I'll be there in a moment, just meet me outside Shoppers' Stop".  I saw her smiling at me as I got out of the shop. I understood the reason of her amusement a few seconds later as she glanced at the three big black bags I carried with a long bill of Rs. 1794 indicating all the discounts I had availed.  We "Hi"ed and hugged each other . "I knew you could do it !!!" She winked at me and both of us burst into laughter :)  

Awry Weekends

Weekend. The word used to excite me a year from now . The idea of hanging out with friends, going out on a shopping spree and a default break from the Office cafeteria food was enough to make me happily put in extra hours at the office on weekdays and take admonishments from the seniors with a smile. The weekdays kept me occupied with work, phone calls, meetings, e-mails or simply daydreams about the weekend plans.

As weeks passed, the work stated taking a toll on my weekends. "A couple of hours on the weekend, and you'll get a whole day off on any one day of your choice in the coming week." my supervisor would say. A nine hours compensation for less than half the time spent in office is definitely a good bargain.

For most of my Saturdays, I had a date with the Desktop in my cubicle. And the better half of the day was dedicated to my only source of income. An hour early in the morning to get ready and head to the office, an hour of juggling between autos and bus to reach the destination by spending fewer bucks, which cannot be claimed from the office anyways. " You're getting a whole day off for just a few hours of work" they'd remind me. Half an hour to get to the working desk after waiting for the only working lift to take me to the 10th floor. Work for two hours or a bit more, in the non air conditioned floor. "Not many people work in the office on Saturdays/Sundays, so we don't switch on the A/C, we can arrange for a table fan you wish "The Facilities & Services manager would say. The Coffee vending machines get serviced on the weekends and the washrooms and the staircase smell of the chlorinated disinfecting and cleaning powder.

After a few hours of work I'd call up a few friends to plan out something "interesting" to do in the evening. "But we thought you were going to Office today" ,they'd say. "I've already made plans with so and so for the day, We can catch up next weekend for sure". I'd do my lunch in solitude at a nearby restaurant, paying thrice the bill for food as bad as the one I get in the Cafeteria on the weekdays. Reaching home after another hour of travel I didn't have an ounce of energy to indulge in any activity such as reading books or go for a pleasure walk in one of the gardens in the Garden City of India. I'd try to make the rest of the day "happening" with hours of conversation with friends and family over the phone, utilizing the service provider's plan of "Only Re1 per minute for any STD call".

Saturdays went by, but I did have Sundays, all to myself. The liberty to spend them the way I wished to. I had already lost the opportunity to accompany other corporate friends who had their off days in common and had planned out a short trip to Mysore or Kerala. The others usually wanted to relax after a hectic Saturday and to get charged up to work for the next five days in the coming week.

When I looked back after a few such weeks, I noticed the weekends had changed their nature. They had started posing a challenge to me, mocking me for having a miserable time that used to be exciting for me at one point of time. I replied to myself saying, "It's my life, and I'll enjoy every moment of it. I'll not let weekends or my acquaintances tarnish my time. I do whatever I enjoy doing, and I enjoy whatever I do " I had heard positive affirmations work wonders, I thought let me give it a shot.

Last Friday, 5:45 PM: I was about to leave my desk for the day when a message prompted in my Inbox. I opened the mail and saw Tom and Jerry doing rounds of a house and having a gala time. Written beneath in red was "Happy Weekend, Enjoy !!" I smiled, and replied with two of my favourite smileys, else I would have again missed the evening shuttle to my home.