Self indulgence at Five Rupees

Until yesterday I thought that drowning myself in wine or chocolate, or rose petals followed by a body massage with the most expensive and rare aroma oils, could be the best thing in this world. I called this self indulgence until yesterday. Only the descendants of the Raj kapoor clan or one of the Ambanis could afford this kind of self indulgence on a daily basis. And damn!!!! I envied them for this. I always wished someone would present me with one of those 99.99% discount coupons to one of the posh spa's in town, and I could indulge in myself without feeling a wee bit guilty about wasting money.

But let me tell you, yesterday my perception changed. It was 5.00 pm in the evening, and while I was wondering what could kill my boredom which was eating my head, I just got reminded that I had forgotten to pay my Dad's credit card and mobile bills which he asked me to pay in the morning itself. I decided to walk it down, as the weather in chennai for a change was very windy and pleasant. Half way down it began to rain. There wasn't even a slight warning in the form of drizzle and the rain came with a bang. Now I ain't like any of those filmy heroines who loves to get wet in the rains and dance to tunes. Rains are such a pain I tell you. All your clothes get messy and your shoes and pants are messed with mud. The wet weather irks me and I hate it. In chennai with many drains overflowing the rain mixes with sewage and there is a high probablitiy that you are walking on diluted urine.

Before I could find a roof above my head I was all wet. So there was no point now to go and huddle up in front of those big showrooms along with old uncles and aunties. The last thing I ever wanted , on the top of getting wet was caress my wet shoulders with theirs. So I was walking with the rain. I finally reached the destination and paid the bills. The man at the counter looked at me with disgust while taking the wet cheque from my hands. I wanted to tell him " what are you staring at dumb ass??? You'd look more disgusting if wet", but I just kept quiet. Instead I gave him a nasty stare that would have told him lots more.

As I got out of the showroom, I carefully tip toed so as to avoid the muddy puddles just when a fast indica, splashed all the muddy water over me. I was fuming. I spewed the worst words I ever knew at the driver. As I was busy cursing the driver, a man in a cart selling peanuts distracted me. Wow Peanuts were the best thing that could drive away all my depression right now, I thought.

I dug deep into my bag and found one wet and slightly torn five rupee note. I walked up to the cart and asked him for peanuts worth 5 bucks. He was happy to see me. In the rain I was his only customer. He quickly took the hot peanuts into his measurement cup and packed it into a cone with papers from an old tamil magazine. The cone had the photo of Namitha - tamil cinema's sex bomb on it. I gave him the soaked torn note. He didn't seem to mind. He took it with a smile. Seeing me buy the peanuts, a small boy and his mother on a Scooty also stopped to buy some peanuts. I felt good about it. I had brought the poor chap some business. I was his lucky charm, I thought.

I was so excited about the the peanuts. It was warm and as I was holding it in my hand, I felt like I was in heaven. I was walking on the middle of the road. Cars honked loudly behind me and threatened to splash muddy water on me. I could care less. I couldn't get more wet and more muddy. I felt like the king of the world. The aroma of the hot salted peanuts and the feeling of it cracking in my mouth made me feel like I was in a spa with rose petals and honey. With the cool wind blowing and the rain dying out, and with each peanut that cracked inside my mouth I felt high. I felt better than heaven. It was self indulgence at Rs.5.

As I walked back home, I carefully crafted a small paper boat out of the paper with Namitha's picture and let it float. The boat with Namitha didn't float for long, but my satisfaction did.