Retail Therapy

The wet spell had stopped for the time being and the roads were soon getting dried up. After two days of  incessant rain and dull weather, the life giving sun chose to show its cheerful face to the earth that had been bearing the brunt of the rain god's wrath. But it did nothing to lift up my mood that was as gloomy as the dark clouds.

Suggestions started pouring in from all quarters - ranging from watching a film, joining a cookery class or eating out. Nah!  I didn't seem to be interested in them at all, when a dear friend suggested me to do some shopping. "Retail therapy", she declared proudly. "Psychologists vouch for it. It is the best mood up lifter. Why not just try it. You won't lose anything." Hmmm.... Interesting! I quickly jumped to the idea of the 'retail therapy'. Armed with cash and the indispensable credit card, we trotted to the nearby mall. Yes, I'm already feeling better... and this is just the beginning!

Our first stop was the garment store. The waif thin mannequins had some lovely clothes on and I wanted to buy the ones that had dressed up the figures. 'Wait', said my inner voice 'it won't suit you. And it is not worth the money'. I brushed the voice aside. It has this bad habit of interfering when least needed. So I picked up a couple of dresses and really felt like a queen as the staff had been excessively cordial to me. After all, the customer is the king.....er queen.... whatever! Our next destination was the shoe store. I drooled over some lovely pairs and picked up three beautiful ones, something that I had never done before in my life. 'You don't need so many', the voice protested. 'Aw.. shut up!'.  Three pairs at one go!  Wow! My morale had reached its zenith and how! And then how can we just leave out the bag section? I zeroed in on two good looking ones. I was pleasantly surprised not to hear any voice this time. I was filled with optimism. Life is beautiful and I wasted some precious moments in a sombre mood. Well....I more than made up for it, didn't I?

Weary but happy after the acquisitions, I thanked my friend profusely for her idea. Once home, I wanted to try out everything that I had bought. Out came the blue dress. Yuck! It had a gaudy colour and big designs to the boot. It had looked so pretty in the store. How can my eyes deceive me? I kept that aside and chose to try the yellow one. 'My God', I thought,  'I wouldn't dare to wear this monstrosity.' I looked hideous! Two more to go.. the pink and the black ones. The kids screwed up their noses, "Are you really going to wear this? Then not today, please. Our friends are coming." What did it mean, eh? I realized that the heels of shoes were a tad too high. My heel problem would not really allow me to keep them on for long. How come it did not dawn on me while buying? And the bags.... oh my gosh! It looked as though I had pinched it from a struggling star out to make a statement. I realized I got carried away too far.

After spending so much I could put a single buy to my use. I straightaway called up the friend, "What! You want to return them? No way! They will not take anything back. You brought everything from the sale. Didn't you read the board - No refund. No exchange", she said with a voice of a seasoned buyer, who was wise enough to only accompany me. "I'll sue them. I've paid for it", I said in a trembling voice. But I knew that I could not do anything of that sort. The only choice I had was to gift them away. I was distraught. I wished I had listened to the voice. And it was back to square one for me. In fact the mood became gloomier than before. It had reached its nadir.

Now I'm pondering over the idea of writing a book. The title would be "How to deal with life after a retail therapy".