The run for a lap....

It was a sluggish day till afternoon. I had a quick lunch before setting out to the city. I had a look at my RX100. Poor friend, it had been sitting there idle for a while. I have strict order from my parents to stay away from bike. They don't want me to fall down and break my knees again. Bull shit. Utter non sense.I got into Indian Navy, and dad and mom are pampering me like never before that it often makes me feel that i have got into "NAVEL %#^$%^#". Leave it. So I walked straight to the bus stop . After waiting for a while, i got my bus. Journey was smooth, in the sense, no road blocks, no waiting at level cross, and i made it to the city within 40 mins. I had a few tasks to get done. Buying a spare clock movement from a retailer, then to my Telecom operator's head office, then to the only shopping mall in my city, where i have to wait for Andrew who will be here soon to purchase a laptop...

While being in bus, i was chatting with him. Bloody f*cker he started off very late. But he had many things to get done before getting started. Meanwhile i got engaged with two more friends on sms chat. My keypad was rattling like a Geiger counter. Meanwhile it lost a tooth, i mean a key. Now my phone doesn't have "end call" key and "3" key. Its a little bit to maintain the old speed without the keys. Either i should fix the keys or knock out all the keys. Second idea sounds more good.

I was heading towards the retailer through the busy streets of Broadway. I noticed one of my junior at school, along with her father. We made an eye contact, but by the time she recognised me, i had disappeared into the crowd. I am pretty sure that when i meet my old friends, it will take a while for them to recognize me with my bald head, and no chubby cheeks on my face. The store keeper had gone out for his lunch, which means i have to wait for an hour. I didn't want to wait there like the security guard in front of an ATM. So i crossed the street and went to Titan Eye +. My specs' leg was loose and was almost running towards the end of its lifespan. I had a look at few thick frames, and then something new caught my attention- The SWITCHERS. Just like the name, the specs comes along with 3 pairs of legs that can be switched between each other. It was an awesome stuff. I slowly looked at its tag. OH!...Just 3500 bucks. "Ok! I ll be back soon. Thank you" i said to my attendant, and left the showroom. Then i went to music world, and took the details of i pod nano. Spent some time there and got away with the movement after an hour. I got rest of my works done and by the time Andrew made it to the mall.

The mall was so crowded that I wanted to get out of the hell at the earliest. I met one of my old friend there. I had to literally pick his jaw from floor. Yup...Really jaws dropped. But my jaw was dropped when i saw "Pavoos" along with his girl friend. He promised to get back to me after seeing off her. So i rushed to the HP showroom. Met Andrew ( in a tee shirt) there. Oh my god, he was so lean that it reminded me of a flag post with a flag, when he passed through an air curtain. We had a look at some of the laps, and noted down its configuration. So we need to know now what Dell has got to offer us. The online store was about 8 or 9 kms away from the mall. As i didn't bring my bike, we had to be in a hurry. Whenever we are in a hurry, we will meet a lot of friends on the way. I don't know what is the chemistry behind it. Even though we were in a rush, we found some time to gossip about few friends. Don't wonder. Ya!...its true. Even men gossip and can spread secrets much faster than girls....for the first time i admit that i do gossip, but in a harmless way. (What the hell is this?....i have been confessing to you since for the last few posts).

We went to the shop. Had a look at few of dazzling stuff machines. Anyway he is spending money. So i should help him to take a good decision. I phoned a friend, compared the configuration, assessed the product. Dell offered more value for money. But it would take  about 15 days to deliver the product with Graphics card. So bingo. There was no option better than HP. That means going back all the way. We asked for a visitor's card so that the dealer wont be disappointed in loosing a customer. He also wanted us to make an entry in his wish-list register, and while entering the phone no., we exchanged a look. Both of us knew what Andrew was doing. He replaced one a 3 with 2. We went to the nearby bus stop. Meanwhile my dad made a few calls, asking why was i getting late. I looked at my watch. 7.30 pm - LATE?...Oh! that's disgusting. On my way, i bought a packet of peanut from a street vendor. Just before opening the package, our bus came, and we reached the bye pass within 5 mins.

As we wanted to get things done at the earliest, we took the first bus. It was via pipeline, which means our mall was about 1 km away from the stop. The bus took a turn, from the highway. We got down and looked for a bus in the long line waiting for green signal in the junction. "Shall we sprint, dude? Its just 1 km from here." He liked the idea. We started off; not sprint, but a jog. The signal was not green which means we could use some of the highway too. Andrew got fed up so fast. I tried to motivate him a little by little. That is the only sort of help one can offer to make someone run. NB:- APPLICABLE IN LIFE TOO. Because you can't expect someone to run your lap. You have to do it by yourself. I stopped jogging, as i wanted Andrew to relax a bit so that he can catch up soon. Again we went on with jogging and finally we made it to the mall. It took only 10 mis. Jogging was not a bad idea. We saw no bus passing by, within this time. Thanks to the group planning exercise i practised during my SSB coaching. It helped me to analyse the result logically.

The main passage along the atrium was now a venue for informals. It was a total shit. I remembered about the wonderful times we had in our college during informals. It was the first platform i got in college to expose and express myself. We ordered our configuration and it would take an extra hour to upgrade the RAM to 4GB. Meanwhile we thought to have some food, as both of us were running on empty stomach. The food court was just one floor up. After waiting in the long queue, we ordered two dinner meals. Now we need to find a free table. There was such a crowd that we found no place to sit down and dine. There was a table, higher than others. Its chairs were also high, that most of them feared, rather than hesitate to sit on it. We took the table. Meanwhile we had a look at every table. College girls, schoolgirls, their friends, children running between tables, couples, moms, and even grannies were a part of the crowd. One lady, sitting opposite to me, dressed in a churidar, or salwar ( i don't know the difference between them) was engaged in a cleavage show. She bent down frequently, as if adjusting her footwear's strap, and was looking at a guy sitting on the table next to her. Poor man he should have taken our table. It offers more clear view. I was wondering about a part of the costume named "Shall" (some thing like stole). Its almost vanished these days. Even churidar is getting mutated. Believe me or not; men are more attracted and give more respect to women who appeares with a stole (strictly confined to CHURIDAR only).

I again got a call from dad whether i started off or not. My answer disappointed him. It was 9.00 pm when we got our laptop packed in its carry case and left the showroom . We picked an auto and reached the nearby junction. We waited for a while. Had some more chats, and i found a long trip bus taking a turn towards my route. I gave him a short see off and ran towards the stop. It was the best sprint along a highway. Jumping over a few obstacles like an athlete in hurdles, i reached the sop, but just missed the bus. We kept texting for sometime, and meanwhile i got into a bus. He got a bus 5 mins later. By 9.30 pm, i reached a junction about 3 kms away from my house. Walking was the only option left. I could have called dad and asked him to pick me up, but my phone had a balance of Rs 0.10 which means- nothing doing. I walked, and got someone engaged on chat. She was wondering why were my parents upset for me being late. After all, time was just nearing to 10 pm, and i am a boy. I could have reached one hour early, if i didn't purchase the movement. That was my trump card if dad was about to scold me for being late.

By the time i reached home, he was watching TV, and just looked at me. Not a stare, just a look. He didn't scold me, but asked about the laptop. I gave him all the details. HE was impressed. I should have said a sorry for being late, but it might end up in advises and more advises. So i kept quiet and went to bed after having a bath, dinner and prayer with my family, and browsing through the net. When i sent a good night message to Andrew, he had fallen asleep with his new laptop by his side....Gud night...Sweetdreams...:)