A Beautiful Day.

I had my first cold shower of the year today. I also spent the day wandering around Saket in just a T-shirt and cargoes. Absolutely fantastic!

I’ve always been a winter person – especially the Delhi winter! I think it has something to do with my desert upbringing (Although no one would call Dubai a “desert” anymore, it definitely was when I was growing up! If you didn’t put on the air-conditioner, you’d fast need a mop.); I’m just not used to almost-freezing temperatures – at least, not without an air-conditioner. It’s just so fantastic to wake up in the morning, know you shouldn’t get out of your warm quilt because it’s freezing, get up anyway, go outside and look at the mist rolling by. It’s awesome!

But something about this time of the year brings me immense happiness. The sun pops out of the clouds and shines down, bathing everything around in a nice, warm glow, contrasted beautifully by a nice, nippy breeze. For the first time in days (and I *do* mean “days”!) I decided to get out of the house and away from my one true love (the TV), avoid the mistress (the Internet), and dash out the door.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a damn thing to do.

(See, that’s the problem with being unemployed – you inevitably have *nothing* to do. Everything you “need” to do would probably involve a trip to the store below, or maybe, at most, paying bills; there’s very little else that might spring up besides these two.)

But I didn’t let a tiny thing like ‘lack of purpose’ stop me – I plugged in my earphones, switched on my music, and walked out into the well-known, utterly undaunted.

(That’s the beauty of listening to music when you’re out walking; it’s like traveling with your own background score! Plus, if you’re like me, it’ll help feed the illusion that your life is really just a weird episode of a TV show (think The Truman Show), which I personally find very entertaining!)

And, by a wonderful twist of fate (how on earth did that phrase originate, I wonder? It always gives me the image of some omnipotent entity gently twisting something hard and surprisingly blunt into the small of my back; then again, I am a cynical bitter bastard.)… But coming back to my wonderful fate-twisting, the first few songs on my shuffled play-list turned out to be Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole’s beautiful rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World, Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly, Feist’s Mushaboom and Razorlight’s America - and let me just say, that’s a *fantastic* way to start a walk on a great day!

*sigh*

I’d describe it more, but there really wasn’t much else to it. It was just… well… *really* nice. You should have been there.

…

Don’t you just love old people in malls? Especially old women; they tackle escalators like knights of yore, attacking dragons – with a resigned sense of duty and an impending sense of doom. This one sweet old grandma was trying to get down from the first floor today, with the aid of her husband and grand-daughter who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. She (the 10-year old) obviously had no difficulty – she looked like she’d been doing this all her life (and for all I knew, she probably had; kids today don’t have much else in the way of entertainment). She bounded down the escalator two steps at a time, with nary a care in the world. Gramps proceeded to try and guide his petrified wife down along with him, and, with a little countdown, took the big step.

Unfortunately, he underestimated her resolve to stay put (or perhaps, he over-estimated her vow to have and hold till death parts them *snicker*), and left her standing there, screaming bloody murder for being abandoned there all alone. The kid, observing the drama from the ground floor, raced up the Up escalator to Grandma’s aid. Grandma, once again, proved to be a worthy adversary, and was, once again, left standing there, screaming bloody murder (and you scoffed when they said history repeats itself! (Yes, I know that’s not *exactly* what they say; just roll with it.)) Now it was Gramps’ turn to go up again, and give it (or rather, her) a go… and once again, he failed (although, to give him credit, he only let her slip out of his grasp when it looked like she was going to fall – man, she must have sprouted roots or something!). *Again*, the kid proceeded to run up to Grandma’s aid.

Unfortunately, I had to bid them adieu before I could see how this tale ended. For all I know, they’re probably still there, with Grandma screaming like a banshee.

(Good thing it was a slow day at the mall! )