MDI Gurgaon
When I was 7-8 years old, one of my childhood friends bunked his classes and went to watch a movie. That was a really badass thing to do for such a young school kid – no wonder we called him Chota Shaktiman (a name coined by this daring gentleman himself). After the movies, he went to a Pantaloons store near his house and had meal in the food court. While having his food, to his surprise he discovered his mother came to Pantaloons for shopping and he was caught red handed. That was indeed quite a coincidence given that his house was just 100 metres away from Pantaloons. He was approached by his mother and he confessed the henious crimes he had committed. To his surprise, his mother did not scold him or beat him. She took him home, talked to him and made him understand that studying was cooler that bunking. Mr. Chota Shaktiman wholeheartedly accepted this proposition of his mother because the promise of studying harder was far better than the thrashing he expected from his mother. The next day we met up and he explained the whole situation to me. After a thoughtful situation analysis, I exclaimed ‘But your mother is so strict! How did she not yell at you when she found you at Pantaloons?’ He replied ‘Because it happened in Pantaloons bro’. For the 7 year old me, that answer was cryptic enough and this open ended answer opened a lot of possibilities for me.
A month or two later, my parents were not at home and I was playing by myself. All of a sudden I broke a flower vase, which was one of my mother’s favourites. I knew owning up meant an hour long lecture, so like any other dumb kid, I chose the easier way out – ‘Ma, I brought Tommy, the neighbour’s dog to play with me and he did it all’. However I felt sorry for blaming Tommy for this. Poor chap just wants some company and did not even touch the vase. The grave ethical dilemma was too much for me to handle and so I went to Tommy the next day. As usual, he came to me wagging his tail. ‘I am a terrible human Tommy, you will not believe what I have done to you’ I thought. But Tommy kept wagging his tail in excitement and did not even sense my concern. Then I remembered the above Chota Shaktiman’s incident and his cryptic answer ‘Because it happened in Pantaloons bro’. That day onwards I was trying to persuade my mother to visit that same Pantaloons outlet because I claimed that I wanted to buy a specific shirt that was available only in that outlet. I am sure by now you know where this story is heading to. Finally I successfully convinced my mother to visit that store and when we reached that store, I told her that it was I who broke the vase. She said that she was unhappy that I lied about it earlier but appreciated my courage to own it up later. It wasn’t an hour long lecture and nor did I get any beating.
This was my first visit to Pantaloons.
Thereafter, as I grew old, the frequency of visits to Pantaloons increased, but for the sole purpose of shopping and not to condone my sins. But this incident remains a memorable one for me because it kind of taught me the virtue of owning up the deeds or misdeeds that is committed. This is the significance of ABG in my life.