July 24, 2007

The Shoe Story~



Singapore, the shoppers' paradise, Singapore where you will get to see really well-groomed ladies with flawless skin and perfect bodies, who takes special care before stepping out of their house…..proper makeup, perfect fit cloths with matching fancy shoes. Oh Yes… SHOES… the reason am here today… to tell you all about how these SHOES caught my attention and made me “Go Crazy” for them. I never realized how the change happened and I started ‘Noticing’ shoes! Wondering now is it ‘coz they reminds me of the famous Kolkata’s 'Macher Bajar’ (Fish stall)? And that surely is a warm comfort in a foreign land. Maybe the only difference is in their language….. but that’s obvious afterall.. different country, different dialect!

Yes, you can enjoy the music of famous Kolkata’s Macher bajaar in the heart of Singapore. The best time to enjoy it is during the “peak hrs”, when everyone is rushing to or from office. And you got to be in the Right Place if you want to have a fool proof Bose speaker kind of sound effect. The right place would be the zebra crossings in the “Peak hrs” or “underpass”. Will get back to the SS (Shoe Sound) effect a lil later.

It’s almost been 2 months now, I still remember the evening when I was casually browsing through the mall windows and this smart black executive looking shoe caught my attention. It was just perfect for me… the heel was not too high.. if I decide to buy, its share of contribution to my height would be another one inch… exactly the way I wanted!! With apprehension I went inside the store to check the price tag. This is ‘coz my past experience in buying a shoe here in Singapore was not very good. Whenever I liked a pair and was all set to buy it… the price tag forced me to do a mental conversion to my home currency and the result always made me put the shoe back in rack. Not to take the risk of you branding me as a parsimonious woman, in defense, I would say, its coz of my fair knowledge about home market. I was sure the same quality shoe back home would cost me not more than INR 800.

So, now you will understand why I was so overwhelmed to see the price tag of the shoe, which read as $13. I was not sure if I read it correctly or if I missed a digit! So, after confirming and feeling great about this Price haggle, I headed directly towards the payment counter. Never realized even at the time of making the payment, that I just contributed my share of NOISE oops I mean Music in the ‘Shoe Talk’ that I’ve started detesting so much.

My first experience with my proud purchase was somewhat embarrassing to my own ears.. as it could never understand the language of its own master, which ofcours is me, asking the shoe to behave and talk ‘politely’, neither could I understand why the shoe behaves so arrogantly and never stops jabbering and catching peoples attention, ofcourse for a wrong reason! Within few days I realized its not my Best buy, my dear $13 pride buy was costing me a lot and all coz the owner was not ready to tolerate the shoe’s arrogance and loudness and the shoe doesn’t even realize its doing anything wrong.. coz its been designed like that way.

Today, when I left office it was drizzling and was difficult to get a cab (yeah you guessed it right.. the cab is not for me but for my pet the pride purchase my shoe). So, I had to walk the long corridor and then the underpass to reach the bus stop. Hearing the LOUD blabbering of my dear Shoe.. I realized for the first time that I shouldn’t be blaming the shoe for its loudness and being a chatterbox. It’s not its fault. The developer (be the almighty GOD or the mere shoe maker) has designed the code for these “species” in such a way that the proverb “empty vessels make the most sound” is always considered to be true even at this age n generation!


October 20, 2006

My First Giant Ride~

It was the summer of 1990… I was in class 8th and my elder sister was in class 10th. I must tell here that I love my elder sister and I used to hero worship her a lot and I can never think of a moment where I wanted to compete with her. This was the summer Babajaan (that’s wat I now call my darling father) bought his new Enfield 350 cc bike… commonly known as the Bullet.

The guys in our family are quite dare devil. So, my cousin brothers who are of the same age as me and my elder sis wanted to ride the Bullet. Not to mention, how encouraging my father is to anyone for any new thing. So, he happily gave his new new proud possession to them and they had a good ride. I was watching all this from a distant.. from the balcony.. no courage even to think of trying my hands on such a heavy bike. My sister, the dare devil (just the opposite of me) was insisting babajaan to teach her how to ride the bike. And, that very moment our darling father did the most unbelievable thing. To tease my elder sister, he pointed his finger at me and told her… U cannot ride this bike but SHE can.

Did I hear it right???? Baba thinks I can ride this heavy Bike???? He must be out of his mind. How can he even think I would like to ride, when I am not even interested to participate as a pillion rider???? When I realized am not dreaming and He actually pointed a finger towards me and he did say the same words that I thought I might have dreamt.

Four pairs of eyes are on me and did I see few faces laughing… coz Baba thought…rather believed I could ride the bike… the Bullet??? I don’t know how long I was standing there… but all I remembered was I cant let my hero…my babajaan feel let down. He showed his confidence on me (even though it was just to tease my elder sis) and I have to do it.. have to ride that heavy bike just to impress him. Yeah, even now I can go to any extent to impress him :-)

Scared and nervous like hell from inside yet keeping the *Oh yes I can do it* face from outside… I took the bike.. baba asked my cousin the one who is an experienced rider to sit behind me and all he told me was… Its nothing.. its same as riding your scooter so go and enjoy the ride.

Brrrruuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm…. I went with a nervous and scary look on my face and back with a contended and proud smile on my face!! Its all coz of my father and his confidence in me and his support I rode the bullet for the first time 16 years back and till date enjoy maneuvering it. :-)