Saturday, April 18, 2009

Love to buy Everything!

Let me first confess that, I was inspired to write this post after reading Prasanna’s shopping passion .
It was the year 1994, December last week, just 1 and half months after our marriage. So Rajendra used to take me wherever he went on tour. At that time we were in Chembur, Mumbai staying in Rajendra’s Uncle’s place .In spite of my little knowledge of Marathi, I used to enjoy there.

One day, he came early from his office and told me,”Let us go out for Dinner!”! My preference was Chembur because of its South Indian Restaurants, so we went to Chembur Market Area which had lots of shops. Both sides of the road were overflowing with shops. We were newly married so Rajendra was in a state in which he could never refuse anything :-) Shops were so colourful.Articles displayed in the shops were very attractive. First I stumbled upon a hawker under a tree selling lots of magazines. I could sense the excitement flowing in me on seeing Tamil weeklies Kumudham, Ananda Vikatan, Thuglaq etc.I grabbed them with lots of happiness and Rajendra also paid for them with a great sense of pride ;-) Poor thing! He was unaware of what was going to happen in the next hour ;-))

Some boards were in Marathi so I had to carefully inspect the shop everytime before entering into it. My interpreter (Rajendra) also helped me a lot ;-) ,Bitten by the Shopping Bug, I went on a Shopping spree. In front of each shop I spent a minute to analyse the articles displayed , and pulled Rajendra’s hands towards the shop with a dialogue “Enakku vandhu .. aasayaa irukku (meaning I would love to..)..I want to buy this X article” .I request the readers to repeat this dialogue in their mind in front of every shop in which I purchased so that I can save the pain of repeated typing.:-)).Initially Rajendra was very happy. I stood in front of a footwear shop, Handbags shop ,Dresses ,Hairclips, so on and on, I entered each shop and with little bargain bought some articles and dumped in our bag.

Rajendra started becoming impatient; already his shoulders had started paining with the load.
“Padma! I think we should have something! I am feeling Hungry”.
I had forgotten hunger in my shopping excitement!”Oh! That’s a great Idea! Let us have something”.
We entered a south Indian Hotel, had nice idlis, dosas and an extra utthappa for the additional energy required for further shopping ;-)) .We rearranged the items in the bags so that we could accommodate many more items and ventured out of the hotel with newly gained energy:-).

Again with the same dialogue followed by my brief analysis in front of every shop, I entered each shop to add some more to the cart. As shops passed by, our baggage increased exponentially and value of Rajendra’s purse was diminishing with the same proportion. ;-) Now we decided to buy a big bag for future expansions;-) and bought it.

Additional bag opened up for new scopes and we proceeded further. Smile in Rajendra’s face had vanished , because his back had already bent like a slight arc ;-) with the heavy-duty bags. Taking pity on him I offered to share his load. In spite of my generosity he started voicing mild protests like “Oh! No! Padma! It’s enough”.

Not minding his protests, I continued my Shopping. Now his protests became stronger and his face became more serious. Ignoring all signs, I was happily immersed in Shoppo Mania.
Only few shops were remaining in that row, I stood in front of a shop with a Marathi board. As usual, before analyzing I uttered the same dialogue and started looking at the display window.
Rajendra’s face suddenly lit up. His eyes started shining with happiness. Silently I appreciated his regained enthusiasm. He volunteered “Padma! Shall I buy anything for you from this shop?”
Wow! How generous! I just stepped on the entrance, but looked back with a doubt “But I am not able to make out what they are selling”.
Rajendra gave a villainous smile and replied “They sell Veterinary Medicines in this shop!”
I leave the rest to the Reader’s imagination :-) ) CU in next post!

19 comments:

Prasanna's Pen Speaks ... said...

i really pity on Rajendra's condition... and the same time i m proud of you...Shopping is like music... It doesn't have any language....Ofcourse husband's duty is to carry all our purchased items..in shopping mania.. I missed my husband two or three timesnear charminar in HYD...LATER I UNDERSTOOD HE ESCAPED FROM ME LATER REAPPEARED AFTER MY SHOPPING.....

Nandakumar said...

Padma- I know the chembur area near railway station bcos I stayed for almost 40 days in Geetha Hotel in 1984 on an official visit.It is a nice place to shop,particularly for ladies.The shopping becomes grt when there are silent husbands like Rajendra.

O.K.Did you purchase any thing from that shop cited in the last sentence?

The beauty of your blog lies in the last line.Good.

RAMKI said...

padma i pity on rajen,in baroda how he purchased gulkundu to vatsala u know.i was also like u when first time i went to use.want to grab everything used or not in shops like wallmart, cosco .toysrs etc.now that tendency is not there(raja to note)

Ravishankar said...

Padma s Shopping behavior is not unusual. She behaved like wild elephant in sugar cane field.
Rajendra was like mahout who could not control it.
But I have technic to control Padma.

Padma said...

Thanx prasanna!ur comment shows ur experience;-) in handling the spouse during shopping...keep reading my blogs!

Padma said...

Thanx kumar chittappa for ur comment.Rajendra is not a silent husband.he becomes very impatient so nowadays i dont take him during shopping:-))
No!i didnt purchase anything from that shop...I escaped from that area!:-)

Padma said...

Appa,Ravi Thank u for ur comments..Ravi!ur comments r not valid according to Election commission rules.they r hate speeches;-))
Gulkand story of Baroda was experienced by Raja also :-))

Raja said...

Padma..very funny blog..I can imagine how it would have felt..amma shopped for Gulkand with Rajendra during a trip to Baroda in the 90's..
Rajendra ..taking mother-in-law had to be doubly patient and nicer!...on 2 different shopping agenda's..one was Surat saree purchase trip..the other one was to purchase Gulkand in a local shop in Baroda....we picked a few bottles and were interested in more..Rajendra then recommended "innonu venuma?" (meaning - want to pick one more?..there is a lot of inner meaning in that question which only people close to Rajendra can understand!)..we kept on adding the Gulkand bottles without realizing after effects..When we got home we had a total of 10 bottles of Gulkand..Gulkand is meant to cool our bodies ..eating all of it, our bodies could go in a state of hypothermia!
Shopping with Appa and Amma here in the US is an easy affair, all I have to do is take them shopping and be on the sidelines..If amma likes a particular thing, appa rejects it (obviously due to reasons very well know)..and if appa liked something to buy ..amma protests citing the earlier reason!
as a result, I walk out with a heavier purse :)

Padma said...

Raja Thanx for ur comment!As u said only people closer to rajendra can understand his hidden "Kusumbuthanam" which I understood only after marriage ;-)).when r u releasing ur post?:-)

Ravishankar said...

Abirami Tells- What Padma will do Ravi like husband she had?.Ravi never allows for free shopping.

Padma said...

Ravi!send abirami for a crash course to me or prasanna ..we ll teach her how to behave with husbands like u.Since i have experience of tackling ur atrocious "superman "behaviour ,i think i can give some tips to her in that aspect also.:-))))

KRISH said...

padma ur shopping mania is good for u but bad for ranjendra. if he had taken u first to the last shop u would have cancelled the entire shopping . ravi's comments are good than his blog he has described u as an elephant in behaviour or in size. (cool.....)

Ravishankar said...

Ok then You send Rajendra for crash course to me.

Padma said...

Thank u SVK for ur comments(oda oda pidikka vendiadhaa irukku ;-))
Thank God! We didnt start from the other end of the row..;-)
Elephant is a very intelligent and beautiful animal :-))so thanks for comparing it with me..:-))
keep reading my blog!

Suha's Blog said...

Hi padma akka,
Wonderful post.very good narration.I liked the climax very much. How about aditya? who's he taken after- mom or Dad.i mean does he enjoy shopping?

Padma said...

Thank u suha!Aditya likes shopping when it is done for him ;-)))He prefers playing with his friends to shopping..

Rajendra said...

Hi, Raja you forgot the Shrikhand story...
My MIL once wanted a bag of a specific colour, size, type, weight etc.This was in Baroda. We went into appx fifty shops to find the right one. She gave up only when I took her to an Electrical appliances shop & made an enquiry for the right type of bag....
I have patience in shopping.. but lose it pretty fast:( :))

Sharmila said...

Padma, you've forgotten your first trip to Baroda when Rajendra and Ravindra took you to a boutique called Rapunzel and you burst into a fit of giggles when you heard their prices?
I was tempted to do something similsr yesterday in Pantaloons Mall. I wanted to buy a roll-on deo for everyday use and made the mistake of asking a "may-I-help-you" type of person (who overpopulate these places) for ...help!
I was cordoned by five "helpful types" and strips of paper sprayed with various fragrances and brands of deos were waved under my nose. That all this overdose to my olfactory nerves triggered a headache is another story, what reminded me of your fit of giggles was their mistaken impression that I was going to shell out 1250/- for a daily-use deo!! Ring some bells?

Padma said...

Hi Shammi Tai!Thank u for ur comments.How can I forget that incident of Baroda.I still cherish:-)) that moment.the way ravindra ran out of the shop out of embarassment was also another highlight of that incident:-)))