Shopping Hunt

I always complain of the pain when I have to go shopping with Nandy!
Those days when I freely went “window shopping” seem a distant dream now. Take her to a mall, why talk of a mall! Take her to the grocers and that’s it! She would have a rally of questions, all whats and hows and whys, and by the time I am through answering all of them, I am dead tired! I wouldn’t want to shop anymore.
Its the same with eating out too. One fine day I would have this craving to eat out, have “dragon chicken” at Wang’s, “tandoori” at a Punjabi Dhaba and what not! And we set out hoping to have something nice and spicy to heart’s content. But! There goes my wish of having what I like - she would start the show with pulling off the napkins, wanting to practice bands with the cutlery, proceeds to tearing apart the menu, and we look around as if we are aliens with her running about all over the place and finally I we would have to gobble up whatever possible while she spills all thats possible decorating the floors - In short, I would be deprived of having a good meal.
Coming back to shopping with her, we started venturing out on our own when papa dear was away at US. It was not that I never went out. I am a working mother, and do all the shopping for home. But,however, I never used to tag Nandy along. When he was away, I thought she would miss out on the weekend outings we had. I definitely didn’t want to take her out on a dinner, but could take her along whenever I went shopping. We shared the secret joy of an adventurous ride. Adventure - yes because of the way I drove with her! I would always have to watch her from teh corbner of my eye.
We would go buying grocery, or shopping for clothes, or drive to the baker or just for the sake of going out. And then, one day we walked into a shoe store that opened recently ( I have always longingly looked at the patterns on display from outside). I was looking around at the various designs on display, wasn’t quite satisfied with any, as I thought they weren’t worth, and there she was; She had fished out a cute little pair of shoes from one of the shelves and was urging me to buy them. I tried telling her that it wouldn’t be the right size for her, and then tried bribing her with the icecreams at the corner café, but she wouldn’t budge. Instead, her wails became louder, and soon I gave in so as to save myself from the embarrassment. By the way, did I tell you? That silly pair of shoes cost me a little more than the a beautiful pair of sandals that I was eyeing. And she was laming all the way to the café (she insisted that we don’t return without ice-creams) because they were not her size.
Lesson learnt- never to venture out shopping with her….