Wee(a)kend get aways!

When one thinks about weekend get aways, normally what come to one mind is malls or the theme park.

In the last few years the mall culture has grown leaps and bounds in all metros. Yes, offcourse, its nice to get all your shopping done, get into a movie theatre and finally get across to food court to choose from multi cuisine joint. Well, it looks sweet for one day outing. Unfortunately the reality seems to be different.

As you drive towards enterance of the mall, the first surprise that greets you will be " Sir, only valet parking available". The immediate thought comes to your mind would be, is there any valuables in the car and will my car be safe?, with little hesitation you hand over the key to mall agent and he provides you with parking slip, which normally has a clause which states, " we are not responsible for any loss or damage to the car". As you get into the mall, car safety is always at the back of the mind.

If you getting into the food court during lunch or dinner, you should be counting your luck to have a peaceful meal. The first objective would be to get a table, well, it would be a musical chair and you got to use your logistics mind, meaning look at a table where the occupants are about to finish (foods stock on table to be depleted!) and once you get the table you feel you have achieved the mission. Don't forget to leave your friend or family member at the table, before look out for food.

The next mission would be to bring foods stock on the table and for sure all the famous food joint outlet would be crowded, the counter service boys would be acting as though they are the "king" and don't be surprised, if you find a wall hanging which states "Customer is the King". Finally, you get some food, which looks "yummy" and get back to your table, start having your food, you will now have two more surprises waiting. One, the food is semi cooked and not tasty and you already having another set of people waiting and staring at you, thinking, when you would get lost from the table.

Its now time to get into the parking lot, you hand over the car token to mall agent to fetch your car, the first attempt , they will search for keys and if successful, they will search for the car and you end up waiting about 30 minutes. "Hurray", that would be the feeling when you sight your car and finally as you drive out of the mall, you would be stopped and you hear a voice " Rs 100" for parking, well a good way to end the wee(a)k end.

As you start driving back home, you realise, it would have been much more peaceful at home with just a cup of curd rice. Hmmm... habit die hard, after few days of monotony, you are ready for the next visit to the mall.