All is fair while shopping

It’s pulsating every time I’m in the heart of the city. This time I remain focused and am determined to stick to the list. Just to make sure I get a decent dingy corner to park my scooter, I skip breakfast. So, by the time I come out of the alley, food stalls are warming up with steaming idlis and dosas - not my favourites anyway. I keep walking as the shops slowly wake up until one of them unveils the greatest temptress of all – S-I-L-K. Pleated like the palm leaves, the sight of silk drives me straight through the glass door. The white stuffed ramp is all set for the holy diva-wear to glisten under the white lights. And the show begins…

Quite marvelous, how a five and a half metre material can be bound by a piece of white twine. I pick red for a start, a colour that usually stands out on a rack. The shopkeeper gently unfastens the twine only to flaunt the weaver’s prowess. I then pick maroon, and then orange, and then yellow, and then… take it from me… every sari is a breathtaking performance. Thoroughly drenched in temptation, I try one sari after another to check if the sari gets the better of me, or if the sari complements me. Right now, with so many shades I’m convinced that the weaver is a crude prankster.

Buying a sari is no common shopping. There is more to buying a sari than merely paying the price on the tag. You have to win a battle. While I am lost in the rainbow I feel a tug while the very sari I’m holding is flowing out of my hand. Two women, oblivious to my existence, snatch the sari out of my hand. So typical! What seemed like an endless ordeal, in a split second made me decide that these women were stealing ‘my sari’. I knew I was outnumbered but numbers don’t make an army. There was a tug of war right in front of the eyes of the nonchalant shopkeeper. After a series of rude exchanges the ‘wise Solomon’ realized that I finally made my pick and declared me the ‘Victor’. With great pride I paid my bill and walked out with my prized possession.

As I manage finally to find my scooter, I wait…baffled…Did I even set out to buy a sari!?!

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