Season Of Peace And Goodwill
Nimi Kurian
18 December 2007, 07:23Akash woke up with a headache. “Ouch!” he groaned. This year the office had outdone themselves. Every year, the office threw a party in November. It was actually a Christmas party, but they didn’t want to be seen as pandering to the Christians so they held it towards the end of November. There was way too much food and drink and of course everyone indulged themselves to a fault.
All Akash wanted now was to turn over and sleep. But he could not afford a lie-in; he had to take his wife Christmas shopping. It was going to be a tiresome day. Although Diwali was long over, the shopping frenzy continued. It would go on till mid January when Pongal would bring down the curtains on three months of festivities.
“Akash, wake up,” shouted Anita. “We have to reach the store early or else we will be stuck on the pavement waiting in queue!”
Akash groaned. Angrily he got out off bed, went to the door and shouted, “Of course I know that. We do this every year don’t we? Get me some coffee!”
“Staggers home early in the morning. Pissed drunk! Now he wants coffee! I’ll give him some coffee alright!” muttered Anita. She made the coffee strong and didn’t add much sugar.
“Beginning the Christmas season on a sour note!” she continued. “And it’s the season of peace and goodwill!”
It was way past nine when they set out. They got caught in the rush hour traffic. Motorbikes cut in front of the car, and Akash wound down his glass to hurl abuse. Without warning a car overtook from the right side and quickly slid in, in front of Akash. “Jackass! What’re you thinking off?” He waved his fist and called out some more abuse.
After almost an hour they were turning into the parking space reserved for shoppers. They drove past… slowly…searching for an empty lot.
“Oh crap! What are all these people doing?” yelled Akash. He had just driven through the parking lot and not found a single empty one. Now he had to drive all the way up to the circle take a left turn, because the road was a one-way and then come back to the car park.
The second time around too was unlucky. Akash swore as he drove past. Forty five minutes later, driving into the parking lot for the fourth time, Akash spied an empty slot up ahead. He accelerated and came to a screeching halt. He began reversing and then he heard loud honking.
“What the hell…” he shouted. He saw another guy creeping in to get his spot. It was too much for him. Switching off the engine he jumped out and running to the other car, opened the door and caught the offending driver by his collar, dragged him out and was just about to punch his nose, when Anita caught up with him and stopped him.
“Akash, calm down. Let that man go!” she said. The driver was cringing and pleading, saying he didn’t realise that Akash was backing into the parking spot. Disgusted Akash threw him down and stalked off.
Having finally won a car park, Akash and Anita walked off to the store. The scene that caught their eye was one of chaos. Hordes of people hung around the entrance waiting to enter. The security personnel were having a hard time trying to maintain control. Akash and Anita went and joined the people and after almost half an hour of pushing and shoving and fighting, they found themselves inside. Things only got worse once they were inside. It was a fight to get to the counter, to see the things on sale and get the sales person’s attention.
It was almost tea time when they had finished their shopping and laden with packets they walked tiredly to the Saravana Bhavan for a nice hot masala dosai and a strong cup of coffee. Saravana Bhavan was full of tired shoppers and it took a while for them to get a table and then only because Akash had raised his voice and shouted.
December passed in a whirlwind of activities. Akash had a lot of work to finish at office and in the evenings Anita and he had a lot of social commitments to keep. Before they knew it, it was Christmas and they were flying off to Kochi for the annual family Christmas celebrations.
“Akash uncle has come!” shouted the kids as they drove up the drive. As usual there was a lot of excitement, hugging and kissing and tears of joy flowed freely.
That night after the family prayers and before the big dinner, the family gathered to exchange presents. Akash and Anita brought out their hard-fought gifts.
“Oh! Akash! Anita! You shouldn’t have.”
“This is so beautiful!”
“Unbelievable!”
“Oh! It’s nothing. After all it’s the season of peace and goodwill!” said Akash bashfully.
