Breaking Point

While in a huge shopping store called Hypercity, I reached my breaking point. After a week of being around lots of people and pretty much just having shopping errands, I felt like throwing a fit in the food section at the base of a set of stairs leading to the electronics level. I did not put on a diplay, but I became very grouchy and had a big headache by evening. One of our friends described this shopping experience like "the day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday, only it's like that all the time here." A group of us reserved a van from the school to go shopping for more household items. Greg and I had the goal of purchasing a desk top computer for movie watching. Our first stop was Town and Country, a small, but wonderful wood furniture shop. This was the kind of shopping I was up for. Locally, handcrafted wood furniture that was beautiful and well-priced. Then we went to a shopping mall. Now I hate malls in the US and I have found myself at two in the span of a week in India of all places. Torture. Then, add on masses of humanity and inefficiency. Maddening. Greg and I decided on a TV that we can hook our computer into since there were not larger computer moniters. Then, we had to fill out a form, follow an employee through the crowds of the store to customer service to pay. Then we headed back up stairs, through the crowds, to find a DVD player and cord to connect our TV and computer. Only they did not have the latter - we had to go to another store that supplies computer accessories. We wandered down the road but could not find the other store. Back to the crowds for other purchases. I could feel the irritability itching up my spine at that point. The breaking point came when Greg and I split up to finish gathering all we needed. When I was done, I spotted Greg upstairs and waved. He made a gesture that said, "just a sec." So I waited, while others buzzed around me, and waited, and waited. Argh! I went up stairs and didn't see him. I looked downstairs and didn't see him. He disappeared. Now a tall, white dude amongst a sea of Indians is actually quite easy to spot. Finally he appeared at the base of the stairs having road an elevator down with the TV. I felt like throwing everything down and running away as fast as I could. I needed a break. Deep breaths, keep it together, and go check out. I was happy to hear later that another friend had also hit her breaking point on this shopping excursion. I know this is just the first of many breaking points and I think an exploration trip to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park this week to have a day without crowds and wandering through wilderness is in order.