We painted CityWalk red.

I should have guessed that a day which starts out with singing Christmas carols in the middle of an agressive monsoon would lead to quite an interesting day.
And so it did.
It was a simple suggestion- go to Citywalk to buy Devika's Mom a gift. Well, for starters we trapped an auto where the driver made sure to hit every curb as hard as he could, and meet hairpin dents in the road making us almost fall out of the auto.
So we made it through the floods.
The visit in the mall started out in a very sane way. Like normal teenagers, we attacked the bookstore, where Anon bought her supply of books and I stole a chewing gum from Devika.
As we were extremely hungry people, we headed straight to Food Chowk, which was behind Citywalk. We ordered enough for one person having some sort of vague instinct that it would be enough for the three of us.
And hell it was.
Like famished UNICEF kids, we tore of chicken bones and divided three pieces amongst us. After the massacring of the chicken, there was quiet for a minute, as if reverence to the heavens for the food granted to us.
Whether it was the fact that we had had a very full meal, or whether there was something intoxicating in the soaps we smelt, or whether it was the spanish music in the mall, or the happiness of finding shoes in our sizes, the point is, all three of us became very funny in the heads right after lunch.
Let's go phase by phase.

The Food Bazaar Phase:
So we thought of making a goodie bag for Devika's mom. So we walked into the shop, and looked for chocolates.
It was very narrow space, and Devika was standing right between us. I don't know how it started but-

"Devika, take Mars bar."
"Oh look Toblerone!"
"No, Anandi, Lakshana..."
"No, take the snickers!"
"The Tronsky?!"
"No, TAKE THE LINDT DARK CHOCOLATE!"
"I hate dark chocolate, TAKE SOUR PUNK!"
"ANANDI, LAKSHANA I'VE GOT WHAT I NEED!"
"oh no, take Lindt Classic!"
"No Laki, that is milk!"
"ANANDI, LAKSHANA!"
"NOOOOO, take the Marshmellows, Devika!!"
"oh look Foxes! I used to have them when I was a child!"
"Oh yes! They were in a tub at that time!"
"Oh Devika, look bacon!"
"MOM's VEGETARIAN!!"

So in this mad conversation where Devika could only stutter a bit, it is fair to say that Anandi and I went beserk. Devika was completely cornered.
But then Devika had her turn too.

The Sunglasses Phase:
We saw wigs at a shop. That itself spelt crazy for us, and we rushed inside. Devika pulled on a bob-cut wig, and we paused to look at the effect. She looked like Cleopatra trapped in twenty first century. I pulled on a black wig, and unfortunately being me I couldn't even wear it right. So the black hair flopped down on my face.
realizing that I wasn't too lucky with wigs, I took it off.
And then we saw the sunglasses.
We ran like a pack of chipmunks who had discovered ground nuts.
like six year olds, we messed up the whole beautiful arrangement and tried on every single pair. I seemed to look like a large glittering insect in most of them, though Devika came off nicely in many. Though in one she did look like Johnny Bravo's mother.
I tried on red nerdish glasses too, and I swear I saw Ugly Betty in the mirror.
So the conversation went something like this, while the shopkeepers stood by and stared at us. Never had they seen so much action.
"Wear the green!"
"I'm taking the blue."
"it's 900 rs!"
"Oh no, mine is 600 rs!"
"No no, mine is Rs. 599!"
"That's still 600."
"I look like a bumblebee!"
"No, very letchy!"
(in the middle I tried theatrics)
"lakshana, don't break them! careful!"
"Oh i want the white!"
"here are the white!"
"This is not the white! Is the white?"

in retrospect, we realized that we had practically lost our minds at the sight of sunglasses and had scrambled the entire organization of sunglasses. One daring shopkeeper mumbled and told us to come to the other side to look at the glasses.
We left the shop in fits of laughter.
We attacked Archie the same way.
Then we realized we had better get home. For once an auto was willing to go, and we sang different genres of song- from my humps, to Country Roads, then Linkin Park and of course lovesick Enrique.
Oh dear, what a day.