I went for a short walk just now…and here are the things I did….

I went across to the "Samatha" cobbler’s booth across the road, and found that after 6 days, the cobbler was still absent, and the booth closed. After the closure of the booth where my "regular" lady cobbler used to repair my footwear and handbags…this man was my "regular" guy. Strangely, no other vendor in the area knows where he has gone, or what has happened to him…he’s a hard-working guy (though sometimes the smell of liquor wafts across!) and does good work, so I  hope he’s just gone to visit his home town…. but at that level of subsistence, staying away from one’s livelihood for several days is not really done. Where do the cobblers go? I have no way of finding out what happened to Mariamma, or to this man, either. 

I then went to buy instant glue, because I find I constantly use it around the house. And I was just musing on the convenience of it all…in the US, to get one small tube of the glue, I would have to go to a large store, hunt through the aisles for what I wanted, take a while standing at the checkout, and then return home…here, it takes me a few minutes to walk to the hardware shop, buy the stuff…the shopkeeper (another of my "regular" shops!) shows me a new product that’s come out, and I enquire after his children…what a major difference in the time taken, and the quality of the social part of the transaction, as well as the business part! If something is defective, I can take it back to him, written guarantee or not.

I waved to my tailor as I walked past his shop. Even today, Raghu is the one who stitches my tops and salwar-kameez, He, and his shop, have been around for over a decade now…he gave up stitching saree blouses after his cutters vanished, but I almost never buy tops at the malls; I have them stitched to my liking. He may occasionally delay my work…but I know that if I am really in a rush, I’ll get my clothes the very next day!

The weather continues cloudy and cool, and I enjoy every minute of my walk…and the thoughts that float through my mind. I quite enjoy the lack of "zoning" in my city; it means I can do multiple chores of different kinds, and be home in half an hour or so! ⊕