A Shopping

Whenever I am in town I feel like Albert Einstein. He used to scroll down the market, get into shops, stare at every article and thoughtfully resumed his walk. No shopkeeper ever remembered he bought the one he eyed. The curiosity of one tradesman asked him what he wanted that was never in their shops. A grey-haired scientist as if recollecting his masterwork of E=MC² went to deep thought and several minutes later replied that he was searching for an item that he did not want in his life.

The same metaphorical principle applies to me in a way I don't have money to get what I want. Thimphu has become cold and the affinity to get warmer clothes has made me nuts. I want to slip inside that feathery coat hanging in the shopping malls, treat my hands with woolen gloves and hide my frost-bitten face in a soft muffling scarf. As I pass the garment shop I feel worse than a street dog. Worse because the dog does not need the cloth and is superior from my want. I was ashamed of the thought to compare myself to the dog but given a choice I would want to be a cold blooded reptile until this winter ends.

Unable to bear the cold, I applied for one month's advance and started to scan the shops. Surveying the shops made me inquisitive to understand the shopkeepers sitting behind the counters. Forget being pleasant to me, they did not even appear servile either. Frequent pecking of their heads from fidgeting the gadgets and continuing further only meant I had come to their shops for no reasons. To them, I was an insolvent, bankrupt and a jobless passing their shops to see their glamour of rich and power. To them I was a thick skinned animal who could bear the cold and that warmer clothes have no meaning to me.

Getting haughty and my arrogance stepping in, I begged sorry to my other half (Buddha nature of me) and stormed inside a shop. I told her I wanted to buy North Face of 100% feather and she showed me the price of it. I knew North Face jackets came in 3 qualities and she heeded me the lowest one. Her askance looks of frisking me from unpolished leather shoe to dry hairstyle of me did not confirm her that I had the price of her jacket. She got me raging. I was furious, I wished I was rich enough to buy her shop all together.

With exultant and pride I took out the bundle of notes, slammed on her counter and bought the jacket from another shop.