What are the modes of entertainment??? Well one may find it rather effortless to say that it’s TV, Radio (mostly fm, as of now), movies, Internet (how can this be at the last?!) and et cetera. But I contradict this statement. According to me, the best form of entertainment is visiting a shopping mall. Now I know there may be naysayer arguing about my statement (no offence friends! After all, every human being differs from one another) but this is said out of my ‘wonderful experience’. So, let’s not get ourselves into the arduous task of argument. So, yes, I stick to my statement that visiting a mall is another form of entertainment, especially on weekends when you haven’t got even a 10-rupee ticket for a T rated movie! I was especially bored on one Sunday and I couldn’t sit mooning around the whole day so I decided to hit the roads. I preferred to travel in a local RTC bus because it’s always fun watching other people do their little affairs (pun intended) in the six-tyred metal box called as bus. And secondly, I did not have any other modes of transport. So I sprinted like a deer and caught a bus to one of the biggest malls of my city, Big Bazaar! Well, I aint in a Mumbai or some metro so I had meager choice.
Gone are those days when purchasing things from the market was such a boring affair. But today, it’s a multi-million industry where the head honchos are cashing on the shopping abilities. Now, people visit shopping malls for no reason; who said we have to buy something every time we go?!
I caught an early bus at around 5 pm in the evening and luckily got a window seat. The metal box was later full, with families wanting to visit the parks and movie theatres and so on. It was only I who realized that a plethora of emotions would be seen in the mall which is no less than a movie in itself! I would spread the message of this unique form of entertainment to the entire world and become famous and Her Highness Ms. President would want to meet me to see the genius who sent waves of revolution in the entertainment industry…and suddenly I heard a loud, shrilling, ear-piercing cry of a baby. It took me a minute to realize that a baby was sitting right beside me, carried by a heavy woman in red sari, a danger sign! I was aggravated by the heavy lady who stymied like a bone in a fish into my wonderful dream. But then I regained composure and sat quietly, forcefully staring out of the window, fuming in myself. Suddenly, the conductor was acting rather weird, staring down searching for something. After enquiry, I found that he accidentally dropped two five-rupee coins. I pitied him and helped him search for his precious coins. After sometime, we finally found the coins and when I came back to my seat, it was already occupied by someone else. So much for my “altruistic behaviour”. I gave a disgusted look to her and stood there. To top it all, the bus was so fast that even a cycle-peddler could get down and walk with his cycle and still reach his destination faster us. Mercury levels were rising inside me and I was afraid that my skull would pop up like a rail engine and release smoke, just like in one of those cartoons of Tom and Jerry. After some time, the bus was so full; I was on my emotional ‘peak’ and could probably ‘tumble’ down from there any second.
I reached my destination finally (with a couple of foot stamps and frizzled hair) and went inside the huge four-storied building, now swarming with people. Two security guards were in their full zing as if to pounce anyone doing any mischief. I passed the two giants and went to a clothes counter. I was walking, or was I? No. I was being transported by a bunch of people, or shall I say, a herd of people like in a Mumbai local train. And all I could do was stand there, petrified. There was an intense rush of adrenaline as I saw the crowd in the lift. I couldn’t help but take the stairs and half through them, remembered that there is an escalator too. Grumbling, I went to the books counter and was browsing through it when suddenly I see that there were shrilling sounds heard. It took me a moment to realize that there was a music counter nearby and the weird sounds like banging plates was coming from there. Frustrated, I went to the food counter and I see huge carts of food items and other stuff full to the brim are being pulled by the women and men. Some with their kids on the carts as if that’s some roller-coaster ride. All the same, the kids seem to enjoy the ride on those carts with small wheels. With lot of difficulty, I slithered through the carts to pick up some food stuff and headed to the cash counter. I noticed a couple standing with their kid on the cart. The kid started yelling loudly, “Mom, why can’t you buy that? I like it. I want it”. The mother spoke in a low voice, “Listen I got everything for you. Now don’t make a fuss here or else I’ll leave you here and go.” The kid seemed stubborn. He begged his father, “Dad, pleeeeease I really want it. Can we please take it? Pleeeeeeeeeeease.” But it didn’t work. His dad gave an I-cant-help-it-son look to him and the kid became more frustrated and started wailing loudly. It was not until the mall authorities had come and threatened the parents of a police case of creating nuisance in the mall did the child stop crying. I felt relieved and compassionate over the kid whose poignant state of affairs had a wave of commiseration rise in my heart. Suddenly, it was replaced by a sense of nostalgia for me; I used to nag my mother about various things like chocolates and junk food whenever I went to market with her. I smiled to myself and asked her, “What did he ask, aunty?” she looked at me and said, “Oh the usual toy stuff. But he got lots of them at home so I refused. That’s why he’s nagging.” I wanted to give a try and turned to the kid and said, “Hi, if you behave properly today, I’ll give you a chocolate. Will you?” The kid gazed at me for a second and nodded. I grinned and went away. To my surprise, the kid behaved very responsibly (of course, with a tinge of sulk on his face) and helped his mother. I kept my promise and gave the kid a chocolate and kissed him on his cheek. He grinned broadly and went away. Thanks to the kid, my childhood days were as fresh as the dew drops on a leaf. I realized that there’s no point being a goody-in-two-shoes during childhood coz we would not have wonderful memories!! I smiled to myself, thinking that visiting a shopping mall; there would be a different experience every time.
