Sunday, June 1, 2008

As she liked it


Accompanying a friend in love for shopping is almost like playing Shakespeare's archetypal court fool...someone like Touchstone (in As You Like It). There is something very comical about spending hours accompanying a woman whose very purpose of existence for that very day is buying a 'wallet' for a 'friend' who, of course, has been promoted from that level to being a potential lover. Sadly you know you are not a part of this 'reality', but yet you embark on the Odyssean journey of finding that precious little gift.


This Sunday evening, I played a Touchstone to an old friend who was on a similar trip. Our search, rather hers, for that peeeeeeerfect wallet made us walk through the dinghy inner circle, in CP, twice. I could see the shine in her eyes as she was looking for that wallet. She picked one, but threw it aside after the size of the wallet disappointed her. She wanted the size to be bigger than regular wallets. Traditional wisdom suggests that a large wallet helps keep men more money. The lady's explanation was quite simple. "If he can't fill this wallet up, I shall know that he's not worthy of my love." Not that I believe in the money-is-not-everything dictum, but the fact that she said this was a reason enough for me to laugh at the whole exercise. A gift had to be given to the guy, and the gift had to be a wallet, and the wallet was expected to0 be full in all days, all the time. And finally, she laid her hands on a reasonably decent wallet and spent Rs 1,000 on it. (Of course I was lamenting the fact that I'd get a Patrick French and a large chocolate croissant with lemonade at the Oxford Bookstore for that amount). However, I wasn't in for a complete disappintment either. I was treated with a bhutta and a bunta for my services and of course, some tips on how to win a suitable guy in 10 days. By then I at least knew one ... buy him a big wallet.

6 comments:

Neha said...

v all hve gone thru d same excercise of helping a cupid striken frnd to pick dat perfect gift!!!
wallet is still better..i hve see my frnds pick wierd stuff.(wid equally absurd reasons)

No Free Lunches Here said...

well... i must reveal that ... there is a lot of similarity ... in this with me .... but well in all cases you are not true... ofcourse this is just one of the case...being a better half of shopping lover i hv just tried to ... analyse tht shopping for gurls is a passion .... and no matter who so ever pays for it.... well though .. the truth somewhere lied .... in a fact abt the size of the wallet.... well. definately if the guy has a wallet not as big as the girls expectation ... there is a problem .... though might not shown by the gurl... but sill there is this ... slight ... ( i don knw wt) but some insecurity in her ... abt her future and expectations....


well tht ws abt .. my view and ...indeed a gr8 thot and ofcourse a gr8 lesson as welll...

happy writing....happy blogging

Black is back said...

well, for the good part, we couldn't watch the movie yesterday, since you had some shopping i believe. Anyway, don waste ur money on Indiana Jones, it's a dumb flick.

Pankaj said...

"all" excludes me. but the notion is romantic tho...spending hours to find something for the beloved..its then not the gift itself then that is important...its the spent hours that infuse love in the whole excercise. tabhi usne jaan ke itna time lagaya

Ana said...

Pankaj the junk.......i soooo hope u r nt thinking that G is buying u a wallet

Cibi K said...

lol..
so, how was the bhutta, lady ? :P