On a shopping spree @ Hyderabad Central

The word shopping brings a smile on any girls face..but to me, its a four to five hour boring ordeal at the end of which the only thing you 'gain' is an 'empty batua'..!!! But then sometimes, you really feel like gifting people and this is one of those instances. I've been earning for an year now, and somehow felt its high time I gifted my dad.

At seven in the evening we (my parents and I ) headed towards Hyderabad Central..., for those who have been to Spencers Plaza at Chennai and Forum at Bangalore, HC is somehow a little smaller.... Probably the cosmopolitan crowd here isn't big enough to call for a better investment !!! No offence Hyderabadis..!!!

We reached the "Men's Section" and all we needed to do was - pick 3 shirts, head right to the billing counter, swipe the card and move on. But papa somehow emphasized that I help him select the shirts and here begins the trouble!!!

All of a sudden it dawned to me that at 22, I had no prior experience of buying shirts, not that its mandatory, but somehow I did feel a little odd. Anyways, there's always a first time and I started off, but then ...Oops!!! Nothing struck my confused right brain, have I not been checking out guys....And then I realized that these colour-complexion combinations never registered in my highly selective n restrictive grey matter !!! All that mattered to me was the 'overall picture'-Tall, fair, handsome....Now the third word gets a affirmative only if the 'overall picture' is perfect !!! This variable has many dependencies - build, feet (how well a person maintains his/her feet does speak volumes about his personality), smile, walk n blah blah blah ...many more not so listable parameters ;)) !!! But all I remembered was binary "Yes..Ok"..."No ..No so okay"..!!! All the other factors were always forgotten!!

After about 10 minutes of search, I left my parents at the Peter England counter, found a comfortable place near the staircase and decided to 'watch' !!! This time the focus was - complexion, build, shirt colour, n probably the brand!!! After about 30 minutes (my parents were still exploring the other brands), I got back to my dad and in a matter of 10 minutes, the selection was done..!!! Hey its not all that difficult eh..!!!

I guess from now on I would add a few more parameters to the attribute 'overall picture' n probably try and derive a few 'valuable lessons' from those not so important parameters..!!! "Rab jaane...kab kis 'skill' ki zaroorat pad jaye"..!!!??!!!

Cost of saving Rs.38 !!!

I have been a resident of Bangalore for the past 5 months and in this period have been to Bangalore City junction , the main railway station twice, n both times in a car with my brother and family. Never did I bother the find out the timings of the subway which connected the railway station to the Kempe-Gowda Bus Terminus, which was actually just across the road.

It was 4:20 in the morning and the train screeched to a halt. Suddenly I woke up from my deep slumber (Amma always said, never sleep 'well' in a train especially when you are travelling alone, but that never works you know), I looked at my watch n the time was 4:20, quickly put stuffs into my bag n slowly disembarked the train. I was told by a very informative co passenger that bus-service starts at 5. Still, the thought of waiting at the station till 5 was a little boring and I decided to 'S>>L>>O>>W>>L>>Y' walk out of the station. I casually climbed down the stairs, watching around, reached the entrance, bought a coffee , sat down for a while and still the time was 4:40 !!! When you want time to move , the inertia of rest seems to be at its best..!!! With loads of peeky eyes staring at me, I decided it was better to move than to sit idle at the entrance, I walked towards the exit gate, n found the subway which connects the railway station to the Kempe-Gowda Bus terminus (effectively just across the road) CLOSED! And on the road I could see quite a few buses on the move. Then I realised, probably the 5 AM constraint was for the subway and not the buses. I looked around for a while wondering what to do and, I could also see a crowd around the road divider, I went closer to realise that the 'gate' had been opened for people to go to the bus Terminus.
Quickly moved along with the crowd, and boarded a bus which read 317 from the front and 314A from the back, since both went via Ulsoor, I was sure I would reach home.
I was too happy with myself, for haviing saved around 80 rupees and found a comfortable seat for myself for Rs.6 !!! Felt like a responsible good girl and comfort at 4:50 in the morning => Sleep. The bus set to motion and I unconsciously dozed off....All of a sudden the lady seated beside me jerked,and I woke up, all I could see was a board that read 'way to krishnaraja puram', oops , I immediaely jumped out of my seat, and asked the driver, "are we past ulsoor?", he almost laughed, then I again asked 'are we past tippasandra', He said yes, (he was very much aware of the fact that my ticket was upto Ulsoor)!!! He finally did wait a little longer at the next stop, helped me with my luggage and said, I can find a bus on the other side of the road.
I climbed down, looked around, now this area was completely new to me and the clock showed 5:25, and it was still dark. I crossed the road, looked for the so called bus stand the driver was talking about, but alas ... not one soul was there..!!! Completely at a loss, suddenly woken up form the "completely happy with myself" state, I decided to forget about money and take an auto. Finally, I reached home for Rs.36!!!

At home after one and a half hours and after a good tour of Bangalore , before sunrise, all for Rs.42!!!!