i spent my evening very pleasantly. the first half of it, i took a walk in our neighbourhood park. suddenly it has become a very pretty park indeed. some atrribute it to an honest gardener who does not steal the money and run away with the maid from house no. 83 ( unlike the last three who ran away with different maids from the same house, and one even took Mrs Bose's brass letterbox). others attribute it to the fact that the secretary of the block committee finally got a closer look at the unmentionables (or entirely mentionables) of our friendly neighbourhood equal opportunities flasher, during one of his evening walks, and decided to make things better.

i topped it off with a chat with our little istriwallah dilip, who has set up his shop and home off the corner from the park. dilip is a charming host. at the age of 13, his social skills far outpace men a decade or two older than him. while i waited for him to finish up the batch that didi had despatched, he set me up on a little charpoy and put radio mirchi on for me. before he set the station, he asked me if i would prefer to listen to any particular one. i was floored.

later on in the evening, i had to go to the clinic. i really like going there. i mean not for check-ups, those bring all sorts of guilt to the forefront, i go there to meet some of the doctors and am made to wait an eternity. it is probably one of the only places where i get to have an undisturbed hour or maybe two hours of pure me-time, during normal people hours. it was absolutely blissful. particularly so after i told a kid in tones only audible to him that i will hang him by his eyelashes and keep him dangled for a week. i am not a horrible person, this child was begging for it. i wish more people believed in disciplining their kids , instead of simpering and then looking completely embarassed and pretending not to know their own child. anyway, things became immensely pleasant after that.