The Shopping List

The Shopping List

I love to go a shopping mall and buy the weekly groceries. Along with the groceries, there are always things that you find which you don't need but have the urge to buy them and have them.

To thwart my advances on these unwanted items, my wife and mother prepare a list of items required and ensure we follow the list and do not fall prey for these "unwanted Items". I for one am the king of my own decisions and always follow the list as per my wish.

In a recent outing, I was sent to do the shopping alone as both my wife and mother had to do some household chores. It was the first time that they sent me out with a list and were not bothering me with not buying the things I liked. I felt like a bird out of the cage, like a lion who could roar from the mountain tops and no one to say no to any of the things I would do at the shopping mall.

I had the list in one hand, the cart in the other and proceeded through the aisles that had the food items and goodies, that I love. With no understanding of what was happening, I forgot of the list and started to listen to what the other shoppers were conversing of, it was their conversations that were really interesting and I actted as though I was shopping for some item and eavesdrop on them.

The first two shoppers I heard while entering the mall were a boy and his grandmother. They were at the aisle that had the biscuits and cereals. The boy would not have been more that 10-12 years and his grandmother was in her late 60s or early 70s. They seemed to be Goan christians from their accent and were deep in conversation by the time I had reached them.

Boy: But why can't we buy these biscuits, I always have them.

Grandmother: These biscuits are expensive why don't you see something a little cheaper. They anyways taste the same.

Boy: But dad would always buy these biscuits for me when I asked. Why are you not letting me buy them?

Grandmother: Then when you come with your father you can buy these biscuits, I am not buying them.

Boy: Nana, please let me buy them, everyone in the house also likes it.

Grandmother: Peter, please don’t argue buy something cheaper and that’s it.

There was definitely a sense of anger and frustration in the kid but I remembered shopping with my dad as a kid and he too would never say no to any food item that I would want to buy. Anything else, and it was definite no before I could even gaze upon it.

Filling up the cart with the items on the list I moved on to the detergent segment to buy some dish washing detergents and clothes washing powder. While I was looking for an economical clothes washing powder, a son and his mother were checking the prices well before I arrived and comparing it with the quantities of each packet. The son was about in his early 30s and his mother was an elderly lady with a slight limp on her left leg. She wore a saree and had the long white mark on her forehead, the ones that the Tamilian or Keralite women wear after saying the morning prayers.

They had checked each and every pack on the shelves and compared the most economical of all the brands that were there. Surprisingly, they did not take the cheapest of the lot but the one with the highest discount and that felt weird as I think they would have spent a good 15 - 20 minutes in checking the best prices of all the brands that were stacked on the shelves. I was in no mood to follow their process and just enquired with them what they felt was the best deal on the washing powders. Their suggestion made sense but I did not buy what they recommended at the end. Why? Simple, I had strict instructions to follow what was on the list and they had ensured to write the brand of the detergent that I also had to buy. 

I put the detergent and the washing powders in the cart and proceeded to the next items to buy and bagged most of it just had to pick some creams and soaps for the beautiful ladies in my life. While at the aisle there were two girls, must have been in their late teens.

Girl 1: You will not believe this cream, Rani tried it on and she lost all her dark spots in 3 weeks. She stopped using it and all the spots returned in the next month or so and it wouldn’t go even after putting the cream.

Girl 2: Yaar, I have to do something of these dark spots. It's really getting to me! I mean Raj always passes me at college and he doesn't even look at me but Reena was telling me that he has a crush on me. I wonder why he wouldn't look at me, I really hope these dark spots are not the reason for it.

Girl 1: Hey come on huh! That Reena is a dreamer, half the things she says is all made in her head and never about the real thing. She told me that Hritik was crazy about me and when I spoke to him, he was speaking of some other girl. You know that Karishma in college, he likes her. So I asked Reena what was the meaning of it. She said Sameer had told her about it but I think she made it all up to just have a laugh at it all.

Girl 2: That bitch! I will get back at her. What else do you need to buy? I am done here.

Girl 1: What? What about the cream to remove your dark spots? Don't you want to buy it?

Gril 2: I am in two minds now, should I buy or not? After what you said about Rani and Reena's dream talks I am not really feeling like buying it now.

The conversation carried on, as I could not take any more chatter into my head. They had discussed about everything but the main reason why they had come to the mall. I really wonder what would be the secret to understanding a girl, a woman or a lady and the thought process that they use to figure things out in their lives.

I had had my share of the conversations and research and headed straight for the aisle with the list complete. I didn't bother to eavesdrop in any more conversations after the last one. But fate had a different ending for my shopping day.

I reached the payment counter and was standing in the line awaiting my turn. In front of me was a family who came for their weekly picnic, from the get-up they were wearing I sort of figured it was their picnic, and it was a glorious conversation to finish off my shopping trip.

This was an ideal family, Hum do aur humare do. A girl and a boy, the girl being the elder and the mother a seemingly good housewife. She didn't carry a purse and followed everything the husband said. All he did was give instructions what was to be done and the rest were obliged to follow. He said off load the cart and the three got to work and then to load the cart once the billing was done and the three were at it again. When it was time to pay, he religiously stepped up to the counter and made the payment with some sort of authority and flair that I still can't seem to understand and walked away.

I was dumbstruck at the chauvinistic attitude this guy had of just moving about like a 16th century dictator in the 21st century and pushing his will on the people he may be calling a family. 

I moved my cart to the payment counter and made the payment for the purchases made and moved out of the shopping mall and started my journey back home.

I reached home and entered to the sound of sirens. “How come you took so long?” “Did you bring what was on the list only?” “I hope you didn't shop for more that what was asked? You know we have to budget our expenses right?” I felt like both had them had their scripts ready and were eagerly waiting for me to enter and start receiting what they would have had to be practicing to be so well synchronized with each other.

I always thought mother in laws would never get along with their daughter-in-laws, then why my house was an exception. Why would they team up against me all the time?

I wonder where the good days of, "Hello, nice to have to back from your outing." are gone? I felt like Pavlov's dog who was waiting for the bell to ring so that he could get something to eat, forget the other psychological wisdom that Pavlov was bothered with. I am sure the dog would have thought, "I would just like to have a warm plate of food in front of me, screw your bell"

And so was the day of shopping that started with questions and ended with questions but had a lot of spice in the middle. I rested on the sofa in the living room and waited for the bell to ring.