The changing toothpaste lifestyles

So many people I know are either having problems or have already broken up with their partners. And these are not flings I'm talking about; these are relationships. What is it that makes people so inflexible today? Sometimes I think its the consumeristic attitude we have acquired over years and years of moulding by the retail and the advertising industry. We like to have multiple options from which to choose a product. If a product stops catering to our growing needs, we choose to discontinue using that product.

Over the generations, people have become more and more conscious about the options around them. Colgate, Pepsodent, Anchor, Babool. Like toothpaste, I think relationships also have one universal truth - no matter how many you change, eventually you realise that they're all the same. One just tastes more minty while the other one has more salt. So apart from the small (but most noticeable) differences in the toothpaste, they're having the same effect on your teeth.

This does not mean that relationships are all the same. Some are fun while some can be really boring (minty versus gum care). But after years of being together (toothpaste or relationship), it eventually becomes a routine. And that's where people start looking for change - not realizing that the same cycle will repeat itself after another few years.

And so people keep changing their toothpastes, unlike in the old days when my grandfather used Binaca all his life (until his daughters made him switch to Colgate). Is this trend alarming or simply natural? Both I guess, in its own ways. We like to choose in order to get the best (which is completely fair), but when will you know that the best has arrived? And what happens if there is no best fit for your criteria? In relationships, is it fair then to hurt the person you have once loved so much? What happens if you don't like Pepsodent anymore and leave the unfinished tube, only to realise after Colgate Salt that you liked Pep better? And what happens then if someone else has already started using your Pep tube.

Its a risk everybody today is willing to take. "If I don't find anybody, I'll have an arranged marriage". Heard it before. After all the consumeristic attitudes we throw, our parents finally get us married - probably to prove a good point. They're from the days when people were happy with the toothpaste they owned.


Give me something to laugh at again
Show me how i can find
A place in your heart without all the qualms
And maybe a place in your life

My boots might just be cursed!

It was my birthday in January, but I had to spend it away from my friends and family - in Montreal. My colleagues made it an enjoyable experience, no doubt, but i missed my people. And Kashif in particular!

So it was just obvious that I asked him for my pending birthday gift when I came back to Bombay in March. As usual, and like every second man in this planet, he said he didnt know what to get me and I had to choose. To be very honest, this arrangement suits me just fine on most occasions (unless I'm in a crappy mood and am expecting to be treated like a fairy queen). So i asked for a pair of boots that I'd been wanting for a long time. I saw the style in Montreal but couldn't afford it there. My colleague Rajula told me that she'd seen the same stuff in Bombay for quarter the price. So I took my call - "Buy me boots, Kashif. I'll come with you to select the style and size."

Hoppity-skippety (not really. LOL.) we went to Linking Road, Bandra and I quickly selected my darlings from Bootmaker.

Information:
Bootmaker is a damn good place if you're looking for boots. They've got all the styles you'd like to choose from. On the same side of the road as Citiwalk, but a five minute walk ahead, away from Khar.

Now I needed an occasion to wear these boots (they're really pointy and with high heels. I'll never be able to use them as regular wear while I'm travelling by train) and a meal at a uptown restaurant seemed like the perfect place. Shatranj has opened up a branch at Versova and I suggested that me and Kashif go there so I can wear my boots. But I was really caught up at work and was finding it difficult to make time. "Let me get free first", I said to him.

Three weeks later I sprained my right ankle (long story. It involves an office party and alcohol) and spent an agonizing 2 weeks. No Shatranj until i can wear my high heels. Just another few weeks and I'll be able to wear heels again. The day after these thoughts appeared in my head, I sprained my left ankle while getting off the train at Churchgate! Crazy things were happening! Another 2 weeks went by. Just as I thought that I'd get to go to Shatranj in another few weeks again, Kashif and me started having problems. He didn't wanna see me for some time. When the hell do I wear my boots?? Anyways, so I'm waiting for him to wanna see me again now and just as things are getting better with him, I bang my foot against the bed today morning and the bone below my big toe hurts real bad.

WHEN WILL I GET TO WEAR MY BOOTS, DEAR GOD????