Three precious hours wasted in the mall trying to buy stuff for my folks back home. Shopping for others is so difficult especially here in the first world countries, when you have soooooo much choice, so many options. It just confuses me to no ends. What to buy, what to look for, will they like it, is it something worthwhile, is it something that can't be found back home? Too many questions and too much choice just makes me crazy. Plus there are so many brands here. People are so brand conscious, which is also prevalent in Pakistan to some level but not to this crazy extent. Shopping for yourself is easy. You know what you want, you know what your need is, you have a preferred brand. Its like a surgical operation. Precise and time-efficient. You go in, pick up what you want, perhaps try it just to see how it looks, pay and then get out.
To add to the complexity of things, shopping becomes infinitely more confusing when you try to buy stuff for your sisters or mom. The fairer gender is too choosy when it comes to things they want. I remember when I was back home and used to take them out for shopping, they would take ages and be so finicky about small things. Its a norm in Pakistan to spend a good chunk of time bargaining with the shopkeeper, sometimes to the extent of walking off even though you might have spent three hours choosing a darnn thing in the first place. Although, the walkout threat works quite a few times but when it doesn't its the most frustrating thing to experience. Another weird thing which I observed was that whenever women ask for a guys opinion and the guy gives one (usually just as a matter of speeding things out without paying much consideration and mostly agreeing by showing the thumbs up), the women quite often just do the opposite. So its redundant and counter productive. Its better that the ladies go in groups while the guy just sits in the car waiting, listening to some radio show along with chit chatting with some friend over the phone. The only other incentive for guys to go out and shop is to checkout the eye candy but trust me when you get to wait for four to five hours, you start cursing yourself for coming out in the first place.
Still I have no idea what to get my sisters and mom and I know from past experience that whatever I get for them will be considered skeptically. So, I've given them two choices: choose from online links to amazon, boots, debenhams, TK max etc and other stores OR offering cash when I get back so that they can shop according to their own preferences
My flatmate is the opposite. He loves shopping. I think his wife would be lucky in that regards. Guys who love shopping long hours are a nearly extinct species, perhaps just as much extinct as the pandas :p. So of the three hours we also spent shopping for stuff to decorate the bedroom of our newly married colleague who will be arriving tomorrow. It was the gayest thing ever. Two guys shopping for flowers, rose petals, scented candles, cards and coming back carrying an inflated balloon having "just married" written on it. I was deliberately running ahead of my flat mate lest the people think something is queer. Oh well! As my mom would say, "tumnay konsa wahaan kisi sai rishta karna hai!" :) BUT STILL. In what parallel dimension do guys go around decorating their friends bedrooms with such girlish stuff. As always, I came up with the cheesy ideas but got vetoed over by the executive council. What's wrong if just for fun, we placed some indecent magazines under his bed, in his bathroom and under the lounge sofa. Plus it wasn't a bad idea to give his wife the card titled "Please accept our heartfelt sympathies"! Ha. Anyhow. This might have been one of the gayest days of my life :S
I've fallen in love with this song. Its a cover by some amateur but I think its still quite decent : )
To add to the complexity of things, shopping becomes infinitely more confusing when you try to buy stuff for your sisters or mom. The fairer gender is too choosy when it comes to things they want. I remember when I was back home and used to take them out for shopping, they would take ages and be so finicky about small things. Its a norm in Pakistan to spend a good chunk of time bargaining with the shopkeeper, sometimes to the extent of walking off even though you might have spent three hours choosing a darnn thing in the first place. Although, the walkout threat works quite a few times but when it doesn't its the most frustrating thing to experience. Another weird thing which I observed was that whenever women ask for a guys opinion and the guy gives one (usually just as a matter of speeding things out without paying much consideration and mostly agreeing by showing the thumbs up), the women quite often just do the opposite. So its redundant and counter productive. Its better that the ladies go in groups while the guy just sits in the car waiting, listening to some radio show along with chit chatting with some friend over the phone. The only other incentive for guys to go out and shop is to checkout the eye candy but trust me when you get to wait for four to five hours, you start cursing yourself for coming out in the first place.
Still I have no idea what to get my sisters and mom and I know from past experience that whatever I get for them will be considered skeptically. So, I've given them two choices: choose from online links to amazon, boots, debenhams, TK max etc and other stores OR offering cash when I get back so that they can shop according to their own preferences
My flatmate is the opposite. He loves shopping. I think his wife would be lucky in that regards. Guys who love shopping long hours are a nearly extinct species, perhaps just as much extinct as the pandas :p. So of the three hours we also spent shopping for stuff to decorate the bedroom of our newly married colleague who will be arriving tomorrow. It was the gayest thing ever. Two guys shopping for flowers, rose petals, scented candles, cards and coming back carrying an inflated balloon having "just married" written on it. I was deliberately running ahead of my flat mate lest the people think something is queer. Oh well! As my mom would say, "tumnay konsa wahaan kisi sai rishta karna hai!" :) BUT STILL. In what parallel dimension do guys go around decorating their friends bedrooms with such girlish stuff. As always, I came up with the cheesy ideas but got vetoed over by the executive council. What's wrong if just for fun, we placed some indecent magazines under his bed, in his bathroom and under the lounge sofa. Plus it wasn't a bad idea to give his wife the card titled "Please accept our heartfelt sympathies"! Ha. Anyhow. This might have been one of the gayest days of my life :S
I've fallen in love with this song. Its a cover by some amateur but I think its still quite decent : )
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