Fresh from "The Oven"

The best pillion rider i have ever met is jfreak. He is a good navigator. It doesn't mean that either me or rest of my friends are poor navigators, but jfreak's guidance are always substantiated by logical reasoning which always let me stick on to his nav. The next best person is my dad. While a majority of parents don't let their son to hit their speedometers above 50 kmph, my dad has only one question left for me- why don't your speedometer hit an 80 kmph?...As we started off late yesterday, and all programs for the day totally off the schedule, he asked me the same question. So i had a tough time weaving my bike through the busy streets, hitting gears up and down frequently. But i love the sound of my bike. With no indicators and nothing to sound a horn, the rattling sound of the robust engine alone is more than enough to let people know that i am ready to rip the road.

Whenever i introduce a new brand, or new ideas, dad will always come up with a no or its negative aspect. But once he find something suitable, he will stick on to it for ever. For example,
"dad, volvos are introduced in our city" "hmmm...tats not suited for our city.."

"dad, check out the new Titan eye+ specs" "Titan?...it won't be good. And much expensive too..."

"Oh! my god, look at that Tissot T-touch, awesome gadget" "NO.NO. Watches should not be that big. Its not good, cute either".

Sometimes we might get into silly fights and the only point i will have is that he wouldnt have seen that, but i would have, and if possible, i might have procured a catalogue. Whenever i tell my mom that i have spotted a particular specs or found some good looking model that suits me, within a day or two, my specs will "break down", i dont know whats the chemistry behind it. And mom says that it was because i wanted the new one i mentioned to her earlier. But i personally don't destroy or mishandle my specs. I will rough use, of course. So this time, when my specs offered me the same problem, mom came up with same argument. Dad tried to repair it, but i was uncomfortable. I think no specs older than a year will fit on my nose bridge. So this time i introduced Titan Eye+ to my dad. He agreed to get me one and to my greatest surprise, he said he too will go for one, and all these happened without our usual arguments.

Our local shops will be a 5m X 5m showroom, with stale air and price tags varying depending on customers. Here, things were entirely different. With a vast carpet area occupied by a few Italian design furniture and walls adorned with latest lens and frames, the Titan's showroom was really "TITANIC". Once we entered the showroom, a staff attended dressed in light blue shirt, black trousers with white stripes, and a Navy blue neck tie, with a plastic smile pasted on his face attended us. We were taught to smile like this during our Campus Connect. He was smiling unnecessarily that he looked like a freak. We started our hunt. Thick frames, half frames, round frames, bizarre shaped and a lot more. Any way i had decided not to go for frame less 3 piece, as they are very delicate. Finally i found one, but by that time, my dad too found one for me. Both of them were almost of the same cost. My choice was a powder coated, matt finish silver frame,  while dad came up with a broad steel frame. Both suited me very well. Dad's or mine?...dad's or mine?... Dad's choice was a bit heavier than that i had chosen. Still i decided to go with dad's. The instance of my marriage flashed into my mind. May be me and my dad will find a girl for me. If i go for dad's choice, may be, i will have to be more strong...lol... But it would be a nice choice. My dad also selected a frame for him. And now comes the real problem. My only trump card to get a specs soon was the strain on eye without specs. So i needed it ASAP. The lens will take another fives days to arrive, and i have to spend one more week with my naked eye. Local shops won't take more than a day. So i didn't find hospitality at its best here. Local shops offered it more. I had a glance at TAGheur and MONT BLANC spectacles and tried some aviator styled sunglasses from fastrack. I added them to the wish-list for the first purchase after me becoming a Navy pilot.

While heading back to the parking lot, my dad took my hand to cross the street.
"U are such a big miser. U don't even ask me to buy a coffee for you. Lets go to "The Oven" and have our favourite."...
Yup The Oven is at least 21 years old and had been my mom's, uncles' and sister's favourite. Dad always refused to have a coffee from there, until one day, my uncle brought a "Black forest" on Christmas eve. Thereafter, he had never missed the bakery. So we found a seat after ordering two vanilla pastry and tea. I was recollecting the shopping me and my sister used to have in olden days; or golden days. We used to set off to the city with a 500 rupee note. That will be the budget for the entire day. We used to walk to save a few pennies. While walking,we will be discussing about our dreams, friends, may be some philosophies, or any topic under the sky. Mom and dad could have given us a better figure while going out for such shopping. But it taught us how to share our fortune, miseries, joy or pain; whatever it is. The only thing i still hate while going for shopping with her is that she will take a long time selecting and rejecting. I told you about saving a few pennies by walking. We used to spend this in this favourite bakery. I remember teaching her how to eat burger as she was in the habit of eating it pinch by pinch.

Having a coffee and pastry with dad was a different experience, but the shopping we had during those days and today were entirely different. While our wallets have grown pretty big, the wallet fit shops cant satisfy us. But  when our wallets were small, our lips used to spread more wider.... :)