Thursday, January 05, 2006

It's a nice cozy chair for a lil prattle

It's a friend's birthday tomorrow and I had this strange dilemma of choosing a gift for him today. Strange because, I dont usually have a "dilemma" for such things. I am not finicky about said emotional tokens. But this time I thought I will put a lil thought into it.

I am maturing, you see.

I walked into the nearby bookstore and started browsing. I soon realized that it was a HUGGGGEEE *extends both her hands wide* bookstore with LOTTTTSSA books *still extending* (Brobdingnagian collection, if my recent education is to be put to use). If you are a semi-regular reader of this blog, you ought to know that I am not the ideal book-picker you would come across.

But, I am maturing.

Anyway, I always believed that men are simple to figure out. Pretty much as simple as say, hmm.. any woman. So I had a drift what would appeal to such transpicuous species. More over, this kid was such an old friend of mine, I could guess his AOL password is, in four attempts.

I walked up to the Art section.

Six minutes, only six minutes... it took me to walk out of the aisle with the book. The funny looks and bemused expressions that courted me as I walked away, hastened my feet. I cursed having to wear stockings on a humid Wednesday afternoon. Riders of the.. errm.. storm.

I slided the book at the counter and asked, "Could you gift wrap this please?" The teller at the counter gives a lil nod, and a tacit smile... pushing a card forward.

I scribble something on the card and the teller did his bit.

The old lady who was next to me at the book aisle was now behind me and murmured some sweet lil curse under her breath. Her Victorian self had better taste in books I reckoned. I thought that would be a good moment to feel a lil embarassed at the choice I made. I chose to lay over the moment, however.

I picked up the book and made my way back to the office. (First day, remember?)

**

As I sit here as the clock ticks away the final moments of my first (and unproductive) day at the office, I look at the wrapped box next to the screen and a card that reads, "May you never have to use this for what it was made to be. Happy Birthday!" I realize I am not really that mature.

I also realize I have bad English.

Under the polka dotted wrapper lies - 50 years of Playboy, Collector's Edition.

16 comments:

puneet said...

wow! :)
good one. wanna trade? ;)
btw, thanks for dropping by.

. said...

ha! excellent buy:)

Pranaadhika Sinha Devburman - Bat said...

you are indeed maturing, my friend !

Calvin said...

very very mature i say!

NB: insider scoop.. you should've taken a quick peek inside before you gave it to him.. there are lotsa goodies in the special! ;-))

Arindam said...

Ha Ha!

Lucky bugger whoever it is who got it!

wendigo said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
wendigo said...

enchanting how you refer to yourself in the third person so often. you're a good read.
methinks i should follow 'the amazing adventures of thetis' from now on.

Adi Oso-Groot Finch said...

i won my second copy of C K Prahalad's 'Fortune at Bottom of Pyramid' at a contest recently. Wanna trade it for the playboy? We'll both be happy - u'll look mature too, me just happy :)

Jax said...

My birthday is next week.One more visit to the HUUUUGGGEEE book shop can't be too bad :D

Anonymous said...

@ puneet: no trade, i gave it to him already.

@ vague: thanks :p

@ anna: if you say so!

@ s!: i dont think thats my kinda goodies :)

@ quincy: you think so?

@ wendigo: ah, welcome!

Anonymous said...

@ raven: that is a wonderful book, i heard. c k prahlad's a good writer.

@ jax: all gifts are subject to a bash..

alice said...

perfect gift for a man...

Calvin said...

i meant the articles!! ;-)

(yeah right!)

the Monk said...

Listen, if he chooses to make this b'day to make the earthshaking revelation that he's gay, can I have the book?

Calvin said...

with this long pause, it appears the friend never got his gift.. you're too busy engrossed in it!

Thetis said...

hehe