Monday, January 26, 2009

SALE! SALE!! SALE !!! Everything Must Go!

over the last few years, i have seen the caption put up as a sign outside a good number of shops in new york downtown. i thought it was a strategy employed by a shop to push its products. once the sale is done, the shop would either rename or relocate.

the same sign met my eyes outside a circuit city outlet. this time, for a change, i did believe the shop's outcry. circuit city, the number two electronics seller chain, has been short circuited.

yesterday, me and my friends, on our way back from a drive to point pleasant beach, decided to stop over at the outlet. heavy crowd and light discounts (10-15%) were omnipresent in the shop. tvs and monitors were selling like hot cakes.

a 60 year old business being shutdown in this fashion was a bit saddening. i felt for the employees who seemed to be engaged in hara-kiri.


PS: money savers, you might want to check circuit city stores in a week or two for better discounts.


UPDATE : jan 31 - got the battered flier from the battered company. check out the store if interested.






Monday, January 12, 2009

six two

in india, one is blessed to have the option to outsource certain mundane, trivial chores. ironing of clothes is one of these. damn! how much i miss it.

when I was in hyderabad, I used to walk to the ironing lady's shop, that was couple of streets away from my home, to drop clothes. the following day i collected the clothes minus the wrinkles.

on my first visit to this shop, I was unwelcome-d by a 5 year old kid who was standing at the shop's threshold. upon seeing me, he ran into the shop, stood at a distance, and stared. i gave him a smile, and a wink. no change of expression on his face and he continued to stare.

the kid welcomed me the same way on my next visit. my broken telegu, like "ikkada ra…" (come here), peter-english-hi, didn't help.

on the third visit, he garnered some guts ( I dunno from where!), and walked up to me. i smiled. his stare had now metamorphosed into an awe.

the kid set his head in a pendulum motion, and starting at my knee began to raster scan me. as his eyes reached mine, he stopped, sighed, and exclaimed, "enthaa...bedha manishi!". (what a big human!)