Excerpts from my day!
9 am: I opened the door to see the sweetest little chinky girl of 3 in a blue frock, she said 'main andal aa jaaoon?'. oh man! as i let her in ...she was smelling of talc and eyes full of kajal and her anklets making music....as she ran amok in the house....she was the plumbers daughter who later climbed up the stairs hollering her name...'payal' . Payal picked up laughing buddha and stuck umpteen kisses on it saying 'ganessji ko pyaal kalun kya?.' oh gawd! angelic little girl ...small feet in her small slippers. god bless little girls....they are d most powerful creation of god.
1 pm: went to the shop, thinking i was looted for my previous day's purchase from there. Owner was giving his smart ass comments, talking abt stock market, retail marketing but all in all he was frowning, irritable, impatient, his presence was making things heavy. He had enough of my confusion on the stuff to exchange, sent his boy to attend me. This one was a simpleton, most plain-looking, unassuming and i was relieved to have him around. His wrong english was coming as a biiig respite. i looked around and said 'can u give me my money back? i dont like the stuff i bought n i dont like anything here that i could exchange it with.' he said he'll talk to the owner n see if he agrees. in the meantime the owner was screaming blue murders at somebody...i told this guy 'i will never come to ur shop again, ur owner's a mad man'. he said 'mam, its not like that, actually...(long pause n then said very meekly almost hoping that i dont hear him) actually, bilkul paise nahi hai'.' he had played the trump card. i left right away, climbed down to the ground floor, told the owner that i'll keep the same shirt...he started giving me some maths fundamentals on the discount he had given on still an exorbitant piece....despite knowing the odds this guy was apparently facing, it was so easy to detest him....i swear i didnt hear the word he blabbered abt audits etc.etc.Though i know i didnt make the smartest buy n m very uncomfortable spending soo much in an already uncomfortable time, that boy's confession had reverberated in my mind through out the day. simplicity and truth are weapons that cant be won over.