Day 66

A blogworthy day after ages of dullery (not a word). A good thing too since I promised to return with a virtual bang today. I find that Kunal Nayyar guy on Big Bang Theory rather cute.

Escaped early from office to rescue Madz from boredom and fall into the shopping trap. If you read my blog frequently, you probably know that shopping isn't exactly my favourite pastime. Ma, Father, Madz and Me hit Dakkhinapan during a medium-paced drizzle. Ma and Madz shopped so much that they ate into the electricity flowing through the wires. The result? Loadshedding. Power cuts getting too much in our wonderful city of joy? Blame the crazy shoppers.

Post-Dakkhinapan it was off to South City to buy sneakers for Mummy. The first one that she liked for her Thumbelina-sized feet looked like an environment-friendly car with a biggish price tag hanging from the shoelace. We walked out and in to another store where it was love at first shoebite.

Shopping is a tiring exercise. Though I did pick up an electric blue jhola from Dakkhinapan and carried it proudly even though I suspect it quite clearly did not go with my red kurta and muddy floaters. But who cares! When you have colour in your life and raindrops falling on your head, little else matters.

The cabbie that brought us back from South City was the highlight of the day. He had one of those old non-digital meters that start from 5 bucks instead of the usual 10. I asked him how old the cab was... He said, "Haan ji. The taxi is old. The meter is old. Arre.. even the driver is old." The old meter on his cab shone like a new penny, despite the famed Kolkata pollution that has turned the Victoria Memorial and now, even the Birla Mandir, more than a little grey. "It's a Japanese meter and 50 years old," volunteered the cabbie even though strands of grey were missing and the wrinkles seemed botoxed away.

"Since when did you get so chatty," asked Ma as we walked out and away from the cab and into our building gate. "Since Mumbai," was the answer that I was too tired to give voice to, "Since Mumbai where you commute all the time and end up having long conversations with auto drivers, cabbies and bus conductors. And transport talk is usually more interesting than the 'Hi, How are you?' that bored colleagues usually turn to."