Wednesday, September 27, 2006

(Con)fusion at Crossword!!!


A rather long post so if u don’t have time you can go to the last paragraph directly..

I had ample free time in the afternoon on one day last week and the computers on which net is accessible were busy as usual so a friend and myself decided to check out the Crossword store which is at a walking distance from the office. I had already made up my mind to buy one of the Calvin & Hobbes books and the friend also had 1-2 books in his mind. It was the first time I had gone to this Crossword branch so was quite unaware where the sections were located at this place. So ENQUIRY COUNTER 1 was the place the man at the cash counter pointed me to ask my doubts. There a gal (lets say gal no.1) was sitting tapping at the keyboard on her desk. I asked her where I would find a C&H book.
Gal No. 1: You want the whole collection or a single book?
Me: Single (I knew the whole collection costs somewhere around 7000 bucks)
Gal No. 1: Go to the Humour section located there (pointing)
Me: Thanks! The section for Shantaram?
Gal No. 1: In the Best Sellers’ section over here (pointing)
Thanking her I went off to the humour section and browsed through 3 C&H books. Finally settled for one of them and then checked out Shantaram (it is too fat). The guy whom I had come along with, A, had already taken Robin Sharma’s new arrival and was pacing here and there looking for me. I waved to him and called him over and told him that I wanted to buy Shantaram too but maybe next time or from the roadside vendor, so I was finished and we might move back to office. He said that we have to spend at least 30 more minutes there coz if we go in early then his lead would allot him extra work. Thinking how to spend time there, I remembered that the Crossword branch near my house only had plastic wrapped copies of Laetitia Casta’s book and this being a bigger branch might have one unwrapped copy. So back to the Enquiry Counter 1; another girl this time (gal no. 2); I go on:
Me: Err.. I don’t know the name of the book but it is on Laetitia Casta. Can you find it for me?
Gal no. 2: What did you say it is on?
Me: It is on Laetitia Casta.. supermodel Laetitia Casta. It probably contains her photographs and the size of the book is around this much (showing her by hands)
Gal no. 2: What is the author’s name?
Me: I am not aware of it.
Gal no. 2: So how will I find it?
Me: Well you could enter the name in that comp and probably it will give some result.
Gal No. 1 arrives there with half sandwich in hand n the other in her mouth
Gal No. 2: He is searching for some book on casting..
Me: No no.. not casting; Laetitia Casta.
Gal No. 1 nods and I am happy that she knows what I am looking for. She starts typing in the name.
Me: The spelling is wrong. It is l-a-e-t-i-t-i-a.
Gal No. 1: (munching) l-a-t-e or l-a-t-i?
Now generally if someone is munching n speaking I would tell him/her to first swallow that thing but I controlled myself and repeated the spelling slowly. The search threw up a book in the Fashion section so I followed Gal No. 2 who took me and A there. A was visibly bored by that search and was continuously asking me what I was searching for. I was explaining him who Laetitia was and how amazing she looks.
Gal No. 2: You speak marathi well.
Me: Yeah.
Gal No. 2: You don’t look like you can speak marathi.
Me: Err.. *thinking whether I have to say thanks or what*
A: Can you please leave his marathi skills and improve your skills in finding a book?
Me: *LOL* (I just couldn’t control my laughter)
Gal No. 2: *glaring at both of us*
She somehow fished out the book and gave it to us. To our luck it was an unwrapped copy so we pulled two dice shaped stools and drooled over the gorgeous photos.
A: Why don’t you buy this one instead of that cartoon thing you have taken?
Me: Look at the price of that book. It would be a delight if someone gifted me that on birthday
A: *looking at the price* Ohh.. that is expensive. Yeah someone should gift it to me too.
Me: Hey see there *pointing high up the rack* .. Pirelli photoshoot book? Wow! I wasn’t aware that they had a book besides the famous calendars.
A: What is that?
Me: Just take that book out. I used to watch the shoot on FTV.
A kept carefully the Laetitia book aside reached up there and we started seeing the pics of the models. We didn’t notice that 2 aunties had come in that section and as I saw up one of them was glaring at us seeing the assets of the models jumping out of the book.
Me: Chee chee! What type of dirty books you read A! *got up and went towards the payment counter*
A: *confused and trying to hide the book*

Now this thing didn’t end here but I got a cashier in front of me who had joined the earlier day and was not used to the software they had for billing. But since this post is becoming too long so won’t trouble you more with the conversation that went on there. That guy was literally on verge of tears and continuously said sorry for keeping me waiting. I thought in my mind ‘It is ok dude! I am working on a software for past 1 year and still find new things ‘bout it everyday. You just joined in yesterday’. Of course didn’t tell that to him.. aakhir mein Nana Patekar jaise sochna padta hain “Image Image!” By the way, I am still unaware of the Laetitia book name and author and some models definitely look better in clothes than naked (from Pirelli).

On Sunday I got to attend a kathak-salsa fusion concert and it was superb. I had seen kathak before live but had seen salsa only on screen and it was even better when they had the dancers of both the types perform together. The classical side of music had tabla, flute and a sitar while the western music was with guitar, drums and synthesizer. The flutist and the drummer were awesome. If my friend is reading this then it was really nice attending the program and yes I was not bored at all since you feared that. If my friend is not reading this even then it was nice lest anyone would point that out.

The pics blog has finally been updated with pics from the trip and a few earlier ones. I don’t understand why blogger should have word verification for writing posts. Also does anyone know how to connect Hello software and beta blogger? I am not able to use Hello for beta blogger. Happy Navratri to all and may Goddess Durga bless us all. Have a good time playing dandiya.

22 comments:

HP said...

haha..So, you too had a funny incident at Crosswords..Been hearing quite a few lately...

btw, moi too never heard of Laetitia Casta :-)
btw, Why do beautiful girls have such difficult names to pronounce..

And, A Happy Navratri and Dussehra to all ..

Cheers,
HP

Aditi said...

Long post but interesting.. =)
You had quite an adventure there at crossword but the inept salespeople there annoy me to no end. I was trying to find a book by kate elliott and THAT was the author's name and an easy spelling to spell. It still took them about 20 minutes to tell me no crossword in the country carries it..

Pinks said...

lol at the incident at crossword...so did u finally get the book..how is it...lemme know if its gud enuf...i will try to purchase...i got a m&b yesterday...thot i had outgrown it...

nice pics...keep posting..cheers..!!

AnonymousBlogger said...

LOL.

A: Can you please leave his marathi skills and improve your skills in finding a book?

I would have LOL'd there too. That's gutsy.

Me: Chee chee! What type of dirty books you read A! *got up and went towards the payment counter*

Haha. That was great too.

Good way to kill some time. Checking out books of that nature. Good call.

Great to hear the concert was good. Live music is always great.

AnonymousBlogger said...

You guys have really nice offices. And the bus was awesome too.

Keshi said...

Happy Dassera Sudeep and have a good weekend! Im off BYE!

Keshi.

Life Lover said...

hey I saw a fusion dance performance last month. It was a bharathanatyam,kathak and hiphop peformance...so electrifying- vaise mein kathak ke pyaar mein last 16 years se dub chuki hoon, it is exhilarating to learn it :)

Kathy said...

hmm... so ur busy w/ supermodel Laetitia Casta this time?!! lol!!^_^ thats why ur nowhere to be found huh?!;(;(

... hope u have a good time attending "kathak-salsa fusion concert" and hope ur friend reading this post ^_^

" Happy Navratri to u and to all here ( even though i dunno about it ) ;( ne'way Godbless us all!

... will check the new pics.
u take care sweetie... enjoy weekend!

P.S.
... drop a line when ur free lol!! u abandoned everything hmm! miss ya...

cheers,
-kathy-

Sneha said...

iam currently reading shantaram :D

preetishere said...

hiiii

happy dassera :)

Neha said...

lol..hey there :-)
long time!!

funny.. as usual :-)
kathak n salsa... wah!! now how wud tht b.. id love to see tht.. i used to learn kathak for a few years..

teacup said...

hey...howdy? long time no? hehe...have been a bit busy...anyway, why do u need to buy laetitia casta's book? I am sure you have all her pics on ur comp;)hehee...and the kathak and salsa sounds good...I have seen kathak performances, never saw salsa live...hmn...anyway..cya...tc

Gangadhar said...

Sudeep,
couple of days ago,me posted my experience in "why buy books"..For u it's in Crossword..but for me it's in waldens!!
seen the pics..they're awesome!

gangadhar
http://ganga.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

I got bored by the post...and how did u let those bitches speak to u like that???
I would have created a ruckus and left the store!

Love you longtime! said...

OK, enough of the break. Now get back to blogging and pls update on the Angelina situation.

AnonymousBlogger said...

Put in a good word for me with Angelina. Thanks.

teacup said...

hey where are u? I came and went and came back! app koi still pata nahi?

PrAcHi said...

I never found any of the Crosswords sales-people that helpful! They work in the bookstore and they hardly know any names of the books. The guys are good looking though ;)!
I was reading Shantaram some days back, but I did not like it much! The friend who recommended me the book said –“you r hopeless, n just don’t know anything abt good reading” :(
kathak-salsa sounds cool!
my parents have been so amboli some months back. They just LOVED the place. nice pics :).

Tarun said...

Is this Blog Page haunted?

AnonymousBlogger said...

So... are you, Deepa, and Vaibhav competing to see who can go the longest without updating? LOL. Well, Deepa broke her streak, but you and Vaibhav are still going strong.

Priyankari said...

Nice & humorous one!Enjoyed it!

***By the way, wen i got ur profile by clicking, I cudn't find the links to ur blogs as we usually have it. so really didn't know how to enter. Is that a problem of Beta Blogger(to which u have switched) or something else...donno, informed u so that u cud just find it out....

Priyanka Mahanta Pandiyan said...

I used to work part-time at EBONY (the departmental store)some seven years back when I first landed in Delhi. CROSSWORD occupied its whole second floor and did more business than the other sections of the store. I used to spend most of my breaks at this section, browsing for all the new best-sellers,sketch-books,fashion magazines,etc. But let me tell you something.... the sales people get very annoyed at customers who just browses thru and don't buy the stuff...hee,hee! So how was the latest C & H that you bought? And did u buy the SHANTARAM yet? I am dying to read that book though I have not been able to haggle a good bargain with any of the roadside book-sellers.