WARNING:
It’s a long read.
Well, first of all I would like to confess that I lied in the ‘title’ of this blog; this wasn’t my first trip to ‘beep-beep’. Actually my first trip to this market was on Monday few months back but fortunately..errr.. I mean unfortunately the place was closed that day (it’s a HINT). And I ended up buying from the Select City Walk mall which cost me INR 5,000 including the Rs.499 Marvel t-shirt and some Rs.4,400 worth of my girlfriend’s handbag (sigh!). Well let’s keep this story for some other day. So, here is my first experience of flea shopping.
Scene 1: Bed / Bad time
It was 30th June 2013, Sunday (Mother goodness) and I had planned to sleep for 18 hours straight on Saturday night. But God had planned something different for my Sunday and that’s why my girl-friend got an idea of doing something interesting (read ‘doing shopping’). She called me up at 10.30 AM and told me “I love you baby” as soon as I picked up the phone. It’s not like she doesn’t say these words everyday but that extra sweetness in her voice made me realize that my Sunday was going to be screwed up. I replied “Love u too baby, why you are awake so early in the morning? Sleep some more” ,and she said she was not feeling good and wanted me to go shopping with her (as a cashier and luggage holder off-course). And at the same moment I accepted that my dream of sleeping for 18 hours will only be a dream now. Suddenly I realized that its end of the month and I hardly have some cash in my bank account. I though may be my Citi Bank credit card can save my a$$ but then I realized that my credit limit is already busted (Thanks to my most expensive purchase of this month, the smart phone ‘Black Slab aka Google Nexus 4’ which I was using to talk to my girlfriend). The second idea that struck me was to call that guy (some @#%%@# bank) who was ready to give me a loan in 2 minutes but I hardly had something to submit as a security. While struggling with ideas I told my girlfriend that I will pick her in my second hand Maruti Zen Estilo by 1 PM and she chirped like a bird and my heart skipped a beat at the happiness in her voice. (Just for the record – We are planning to tie the knot soon)
Scene 2: Think .Think. Think. (Its not a typo, I was thinking where can I take her for shopping)
And an evil smile came on my face, as now I knew exactly where I should be taking the lady for shopping within a budget. I took a shower, had an unhealthy breakfast (Aloo ka parantha and Chhole bhatoore), got into my car and stopped at HDFC ATM at sector 57, Gurgaon to collect all the cash I had in my bank account. I collected whatever cash I had from the ATM with a heavy heart as I knew I would be penalized for not having minimum cash in my account. As I sat in the car, I also realized that the fuel meter was also trying to get my attention with the meter hand going way below ‘E’ (Empty). I looked over at the sky and said to God “Why you are doing this to me?” and stopped at the nearby fuel station. This guy asked me how much fuel I wanted and after several calculations and a confused mind I said “Rs. 300”. He gave me ‘that’ look and asked me to check the ‘0’ on fuel machine. And within 15-20 seconds, my valuable cash savings was down by 25%.
As I stopped to pick her up, my lady seemed extremely happy. I was rewarded with a kiss as soon as she entered the car, sending me to the dream world of the ‘happily ever after’ we were soon going to create.
But suddenly a question brought me back into the real world “So, where are we going for shopping?”. And I replied today we will experience something different!
(to be continued…)
About The Author
Ronil
Ronil, the quintessential guy next door, an avid writer and a dreamer. When he is not busy building an enviable career in e-commerce, you can find him musing over the roller coaster ride we call Life.
