Instant Inspiration

There is nothing like a walk in the locality or a shopping spree to inspire titles for a blog. Take for instance : ‘Wrong Way Down a One Way Street’, ‘Why is Everyone Wearing What I Can Never Find on the Rack?’ and ‘The Detail is in the Rear’.

Colaba is crisscrossed by quaint and sleepy by-lanes and every local worth his or her salt knows these familiar shortcuts. All of them are designated one-ways. And just as you are blithely sauntering across the road, a demented pizza delivery boy will come roaring down on his motorbike from the wrong direction. The fact that I have not yet been ‘delivered’ to heaven is testimony to my nimble footwork. Yes, here we look both ways before crossing a one way street!

Most of the retail outlets here are normally unaffordable except to the exceedingly rich. Come the monsoons and every glass frontage sports sales stickers offering from 50% to 70% off on merchandise. This is the time to wade in and pick up the labels you would love to flaunt and I succumb weakly. The shops are full to capacity with purposeful women rummaging the racks. I look at all the lovely outfits but the problem is that they are all on the shoppers’ backs! The stuff on the rack is not worth a second glance (no wonder it’s on sale). I look, drool and depart. I have never yet found the courage to walk up to another shopper and say, ‘Where did you get that outfit?’ though I did have the unnerving experience of someone swiping my blouse which I had slung over the cubicle door for want of a hook on the wall.

Walking on the Causeway is a very crowded experience. One has perforce to amble which provides opportunity to observe the rear view in front – all shapes, sizes and varieties of embellishment from slogans on T-shirts to detailed embroidery, fancy buttons and imaginatively bound tresses. But some rears raise ‘uh-oh’ moments – doesn’t anyone look at both sides in the mirror anymore?

Such distraction brings with it a heavy price. Disregarding my own oft and vehemently reiterated advice, I step forward without looking down. Next title? They forgot to remove the puddle!