Difficult day@ Easy Day!!

Yes! Mysore has a new shopping mall and people are sure excited about it. If anyone is not, it has to be the salesmen.

Easy Day, near BMH hospital, is complete with everything from groceries to clothes and accessories, kitchen ware to vegetables, fruits and even liquor, everything at discounts. Every product came with a special offer, even Lays cost 10ps less. I went on a weekday first and was thrilled by it. So I decided to take my friends there for the weekend, unknowing that I would see the whole of Mysore crowded into the ground floor of easy day mall on Sunday evening. Why would it not be? Great clothes at prices starting at Rs.99, it is a loot. Children and adults alike were pushing through the crowd steering huge trolleys and carrying baskets full to the brim, some with goods and some with passengers (kids). Some of us could not even find baskets to carry the stuff, we picked up buckets instead.

A dozen billing counters at the exit counter were swarming with people and their lengthy bills. People pushed around looking for a line at the billing counter that is less crowded and stood at the far ends tapping their feet in impatience, while at the other end a nervous salesman sweated trying to decode the bars on the products and finding small change for big notes. Some others with the big trolleys simply decided they had no patience to stand in the queue for 15 minutes, and threw away hours of shopping time saying “let’s go to More, it is the same stuff here, nothing special”. Sentences like this were punctuated by sudden cut down of lights or A/c, making the impatient shoppers sun out for fresh air and never come back. We might have an easy day here but it is always tough for the salesmen. One of them billing at the fruits section packed a kilo of pears for us and asked innocently “how do these taste madam?”

We did not buy much, so the billing process was quickly over and we walked out, silently wishing a good night’s sleep for all the salesmen so they can wake up tomorrow and be ready for one more day’s marathon run at Easy Day.

Shop-a-therapy………..:)

Cost of living has shot up guys! Laughter is only the second best medicine for everything. The first is the retail therapy- shopping. I have shopped three times in the past one week so trust me, I know. If I had a credit card it would probably be every day. Now I guess I am officially addicted to shopping, labeled a shopaholic. Every day I go back home and call a friend to say “I shopped!!” and I hear an exasperated “oh not again!!” 

If you are not a shopaholic or never met one in your life, you will think I am crazy. I mean, you might say that money does not grow on plants. Clothes are only to cover the skin and seven sets of them is enough, One for each day of the week. And accessories are a waste of money and space in the wardrobe. Yes, I hear it. The rational miss goody-goody part of me nods and turns to walk out of the store. But I have an alter ego, a shopaholic in me always wheels me around.. Closer and closer to the clothes… then the trial room.. The billing counters…. And before I know it I would have swiped a card and walked out with a bag full of guilty-pleasure goodies. 

It is not that a plan to buy when I enter a mall or any stores. Sometimes I go with friends to help them choose, and more often than not the friend is too choosy, too conscious or too stingy. They’re looking for clothes that are

 “…not too flashy..”

“…. Should be very pretty…”

“…should be fitting perfectly……”,

“….not too dull colour, not too short, not too long sleeved….”

 She makes the sales guy pull dress after dress and tries them on one by one. The clothes keep piling up on the counter  and all I can think about is that the poor sales guy has to fold them and put them back in the shelves; and my good friend is not even likely to buy anything. Maybe out of sympathy for the sales guy, or  just sheer addiction, the shopaholic takes over me. she makes me LIKE THEM ALL and then the spell begins.. shelf.. trial room.. billing… swipe… out with a hand full of bags.

 It is irresistible and when I walk out with those bags full of stuff I got at a discount I feel a satisfaction like I just topped the exam, like I graduated from college, like i won the nobel prize for shopping. Shopping heals all my worries, it takes my mind off the serious stuff. It is like my hobby. Now that it has turned into an addiction (and a damn expensive one at that!), I have planned to hide my cash and cards so that the shopaholic me does not find it.  A small part of me hopes she does find it………….

*evil smile*:)

Where is all the green??

The last time I travelled by air was a long time ago so I don’t remember anything except the air sickness. So this time I lost no time enjoying the view outside the window. Intently following the map on the LCD screen before me, I enjoyed guessing whose head we might be flying over. It was hard because all we could see was the clouds spread like whipped cream delicately nestling our gigantic air bus.

So back to the point, as we were nearing out destination, I peered outside to catch the landing process. At first it was vast stretches of brown, then a few specks of white and blue here and there.

It was then I noticed, my eyes shuttling from the monitor to the window. The screen showed a physical map of India and a tiny shape of airplane indicating our location. And the place where the tiny airplane was, was completely green. I looked outside- where was all the green??

The little white building block structures became larger and larger but the soothing colour of mother earth’s delicate drapes became untraceable.

At an altitude of 1000km, my heart grew heavy, sank to the ground and broke to pieces.

Karanji lake- where love is in the air!

One of the important land marks in Mysore, Karanji Lake is known for its pristine environment, bird watch tower and Butterfly Park, and most importantly, the lovers.
While tourists from across the world come to Mysore to see its heritage structures and scenic beauty; people in love, young and old, find it the perfect place to spend quality time together with the least disturbance. Be it a long walk amidst the trees holding hands; cuddling on the lawn by the lake or standing atop the bird watch tower and joking about jumping into the deep waters and dying for their love; the place is just about ideal.
Karanji lake is situated in the outskirts of Mysore and is the home to several species of birds like the hornbill, pelican, different species of ducks, peacocks and many more. A vast lawn by the lake stretches under the canopy of trees and is sprinkled with a few benches, and thankfully, large dustbins. An intermittent ‘Beware of Snakes’ board by the pavement sends shivers down our spine, but a few more steps into the beautiful wilderness make us forget the fear. The crystal-clear lake water is occasionally tugged at by duck or a crane trying to catch fish. Uniform ripples on the water surface distort the perfectly neat reflection of trees and birds sitting on its branches feeding their little ones. By the time the sun turns white hot to a soft golden-orange and begins to dip down the horizon, the sky over the lake is filled with different kinds of birds returning to their nests after a long day’s work.

It is the place where cupid flies around with flowery arrows, a place from the dreams of many head-in-the-clouds youngsters. People come to confess their love to one another, share it and nurture it with colourful dreams of tomorrow, and promises made with the nature as witness. More practically speaking, with the cities getting crowded and decent eat-outs getting expensive, young couples prefer a quite place where the outside world is muted.
However, they are not the only visitors attracted by Karanji lake. Photographers too visit the place hoping to shoot the birds, capture some fluttering butterflies and sometimes even the snakes. At any time of the day, this place refreshes the mind and body. Anyone who enters falls in love; it may be with the trees or the squirrels scampering on them, or the birds or the water; it is a place where, love is in the air!

first post

Sometimes you have to call things what they are.
With no metaphors
No figurative mazes
No describing a random blog
As a voyage of no destination
Because when the world is so used to complications
Simplicity steals the show