A walk around CP

Being a bit free in office, I just took off for a bit and went down to CP in the middle of the day. The bright sunshine and the happy milling crowds sparked off the thought that I miss out on this cheerful daily spectacle everyday for no reason! There is something about the magic of human contact, even though you may not know even a single person among the thousands walking by, that beats sitting by yourself in an air conditioned office all day.

Another thought that struck me was that Connaught Place really is quite pretty. The quaint architecture, the wide grassy lawns, the massive wide roads are all quite alluring. If only the honking of cars reduces a bit (which it will - CP is going to be a no-traffic zone from 2010), it would become comparable to the best town centers in the world (Marienplatz in Munich comes to mind).

Yet another thought was - what the hell was I doing in my younger days, when I should have been roaming about this place, without a care, like all the pretty and happy young people here? Sigh! Lost opportunities! When I was closeted with my books (actually I never was! I think it was mainly the computer and the intranet which kept me occupied :-) during college days, I missed out on this hugely relaxing aspect of life. And though I probably am reasonably well off today because of my education, I kind of yearn for the lost, carefree days when I could have chilled out in CP doing nothing.

And the final thought I had was that commerce is booming! Foodstuff is getting sold (literally) like hot cakes :-). The branded stores may not be selling too much, but good old value priced stuff is flying off the shelves and into shopping bags. Roadside pirated booksellers are doing roaring trade. Plastic is getting flashed a-plenty. I am not worried about falling home prices or subprime credit issues half-a-globe away!

I am sure I would have got more insights after imbibing a chilled pint or two of beer. The temptation was almost too strong to resist. If only I had someone to share it with, I would definitely have taken the plunge :-)

Is it just me or is something wrong?

I ambled into a shoes store at the Vasant Lok shopping complex in Delhi today. The sign outside screamed - flat 40% off! and I thought this was as good a time as any to replace my trusty worn out Reeboks.

Inside I had a tough time, because:

• most of the shoes were large and clunky, boasting of various exotic things like air-max, dmx, shockx and allied technologies
• they were all quite ugly looking
• the prices were astounding! nothing less than 6 grand - after the 40% off, it came to around 4 grand
• there seemed to be very little variety, if at all
• the shoes said 'Made in Thailand' and I recall that in Bangkok, the same shoes were available for close to a thousand bucks not too long ago

I walked out thinking that this particular shop must be in a last ditch desperate attempt to make its monthly rental by fleecing clueless people like me. I then walked into another store - and then another - and another - and the same situation persisted!

Is it me, or has something changed in the last couple of years. Six k for a pair of ugly sport shoes??

PS - Discouraged and disheartened, I succumbed and bought a pair similar to my old pair. The financial damage has me reeling...