A Journey to the Woodland

---

The Most-Bogusly-Active creatures that we are don’t get enough time otherwise and hence this evening plan. The three musketeers Ankur, Vinay and I went to a salon for trimming ‘naturally grown black protein filament that grows through the epidermis from follicles deep within the dermis in and around our face’ (read hair and unshaven beard) on a lazy Monday evening. After the trimming was done we at our own will and effort became not-so-proud-owners of some non-basic-necessities at a mom-and-pop-store. Note that none of us was intelligent enough to be duped by the innocent shop-keeper to buy the imported scents sold at throw-away prices.

Not sure whether bored by our confined life or inspired by the dancing rain, suddenly Ankur asked, “Why don’t we go to a different land?”. “Different land?”, Vinay was surprised! So, was I. “Yes, a different land...Woodland”, replied Ankur with an impish grin on his matured-childish-face. Laughter followed and the three musketeers followed the road to Woodland.

The look and feel of Woodland from the outside indicated that the inside ambiance will be posh. But someone whispered in my ear, ‘Looks can be and hence always are deceptive’. The staring banner announcing the discount prompted us to believe that we will get a good bargain.

Excited we entered Woodland but to find not much of wood. Rather the place was full of colorful-processed-fibers (read clothes) and not-so-colorful-processed-leathers (read shoes). Vinay and I went in search for not-so-colorful-processed-leathers while Ankur for colorful-processed-fibers. To put the reasoning in the most-hackneyed-language-in-the-world for your kind understanding: ‘We are never happy with what we have and always want to have what we don’t’. Understood? Better if you don’t. As you know, ‘Better if you think you haven’t understood when you haven’t coz then there is a chance that you will understand but if you think you have understood when you haven’t there is no chance that you will understand’.

Motley of diverse amenities that this land was did not look as posh as we expected it to be. Remember the whisper? Anyway, at last, some wood! Thin-hollow-rectangular-parallelepiped-of-processed-wood (read packages) with god-know-what-inside contributed to mess up the already-not-so-impressive-ambiance of Woodland further.

It's a common human nature to have innocuous doubts if we get too-much-value-for-money. Vinay checked a shoe model but was shocked to see the price-tag. The store personnel seeing our predicament tried to lure our Freudian-Ego by informing about the 30% discount. The bright quant chap Vinay was quicker and brainier than the experienced personnel to find out that even after the so-called-discount the price was higher than what he paid for an identical shoes last month. We wondered if it was a discount indeed or perceived discount to dupe the gullible consumers!

Whatever it is, the signal was strong and we both decided not to buy anything there and went to the apparel section. Ankur had already selected a shirt for him. He asked the store personnel if any other color of that design was available but negative was the response. Ankur asked us if his choice was a good one. As you know, especially for publicly consumed goods we feel more confident about our purchase decisions when it is corroborated by others. We nodded head to inspire the desired level of confidence in Ankur and asked him to have a trial. But the busy trial room could accommodate Ankur only after a long wait of two minutes. Tried and tested the shirt looked good on our matured-childish-angry-young-man and the 40% discount was the icing on the cake. We completed the-modern-formal-counterpart-of-barter-system (read paid the money) and left Woodland.