25-11-2003...part-III

Chocolat:

Stylus plus* is a glossy little shopping centre in Trivandrum...which as Jithz pointed out over-charges for everything. Dad normally gives me a very nasty look when i suggest we go to that place to buy a gift for someone or the other. They are also quite famous for the imported stuff they have there. U get practically everything from pens, watches, golf clubs and....chocolates. I love chocolates like most of u..and having lived abroad for half my life..i have developed a taste for foreign chocolates (which ofcourse were just chocolates when i was there). Snickers was a personal favourite of mine...along with mars,galaxy,lindt and...sigh..a whole host of them.

The plan was simple....Jithz and I get in...VC waits in Minus-26 (coin toss selected that between me and him)....Jithz distracts the salesman...and i nab the snickers...end of plan.what we had to wrry about was ourselves. The anxiety of doing something illegal in public was something that could derail our entire plan. Simple things could be made to look very difficult..and vice-versa..all depended on the state of ur mind. But that was the risk we had to take (well not had to..we could have just easily come another day and 'buy' the chocolates...but then i would not have a story to post) and the reward was a free chocolate...the risk..well.. 2-3 years in the slammer.

Just in the 'snick' of time:

Jithz and i move in....we went in about 15 seconds apart..i went staright to the cards section to pose as a random window shopper who is looking to get a little cool air in the air-conditoned shop. Jithz goes close to the leather items such as belts and wallets. His region was close to the foreign chocolates and tried his level best to get near it to see if there were snickers. As he moved to that section he knelt down to the chocolate rack and saw the snickers lying there in all its brown-glossy-cover glory...he coughed...that was the sign..i had to make my move..

I walked over to the leather and chocolate section...ambled actually..i did not want to distract the guards or attendents...i still had to pose as a loafer-who-won't-buy-a-thing shopper...I moved closer and did the biggest blunder a choclate buggler could do...i looked at jithz..i made eye-contact with him. The attendents knew that we were together now..and one of them moved closer to us to find out what we wanted...It was time for Plan -B. Jithz walked towards the oncoming attendent and asked him about the different types of belt brands that they had..and their price-points. I knelt down to pose as though i was adjusting my sandals. I shimmy across to the rack..and without taking my eyes away from jithz and attendent..i nab it. I put the maal in my pocket... get up...look around to see if anybody was coming towards me...no one did...and moved a little too quickly if u ask me(in retrospect ofcourse..but at that point the exit looked like a mile away). I get out and move towards minus-26. I look thru the display window and find jithz still asking about belts and wallets..he looks at me..and i wave at him. He leaves when the attendent went in to get the belts from the store room...and gets into the parlour...the deed was done.


Crime doesn't pay....not too well atleast:

We settled down in the parlour...and paused for breathe..must admit this ain't for the faint hearted. Vc couldn't wait..after all he could not have possibly had the same feeling as we did. I took out chocalte only to discover to my horror that i did not nab the right chocolate..it was some crummy old crap..foreign..but crap all the same. I was deeply disappointed...all my work was of no use. Vc gave me a sympathetic look and ate his part of the chocolate. Jithz was too upset to eat...but he ate all the same. I kept replaying those all-important 4 seconds in my mind over and over again...how could i be so stupid..it was right there...sigh...that was that...nothing could be done about it.I ate my piece..and we continued talking about school life..and about girls...and teachers..and more about girls. But at heart of hearts we were still a bit disappointed by the outcome of the plan and were still thinking about.

It was about 7:30 by then and i had to leave for Kannan sir's tuition. I said my good byes to the guys and i left for the bus stand. I would see pappu there and would have to narrate the whole series of events of the day to him during class. So i was framing the points in mind in an attempt to make the whole thing very dramatic... i flipped a coin to the beggar on the side of the road...boarded a bus..and kept thinking about the various highlights of what has become a very long and eventful day...

Apparently that was not to be the end of the day...not even by a long shot....