I decided to stroll. Stroll in MG Road. It was the lunch time. The weather was cool. I wished I had a girl friend around, with whom I could walk with and have ice cream and talk about beautiful things. I strolled alone. I was missing someone.

Tonnes of babes can be spotted in and around the MG Road market in Bangalore. Babes weren't on my mind though. Something else was. A cable. I wondered if I could find some shop which sold firewire cables. For those who don't know, these cables are used to transfer videos from a video camera tape (analogue) to the computer (digital) without undermining the quality (unlike the USB cables).

I found a nice camera shop. It had the cable that I was looking for.

'350 bucks', told the shopkeeper. An internet search on ebay, some time back before the lunch, had told me that the cost was around 15o rupees. So, it was a shock to hear him asking for double that money.

'The last time I bought one, it cost me only 150 rupees. Are you sure that it costs 350?'
'Oh, then you must have bought a local thing. This is a JVC original cable. You can get the local thing in this shop called Computer Planet on S.P Road.'

'Do you think, there's any advantage in taking an original by paying so much more? After all, it's just a cable'!
'Yeah, I don't think it matters. In that shop, you should find both original and local. You can check out for yourself'.

He told me how to reach that other shop. I reached that other shop.

'350 bucks'.
'No, get me a local one'.

'This is a local one'.
'But I just found out that a JVC orginal cable costs 350 bucks. How can a locally made cable cost the same?

'Ok, pay 280 bucks for it'.

I had a look a the cable. Black. New. Sealed. A cable is just a cable, I thought. Let me buy it. I browsed my wallet. 270 bucks. And nine and a half more bucks as coins.

'Can you give it to me for 250'?
'No boss'.

'At least give it to me for 270'.
'Rima, make bill for sir'.

The bill was a computer print out on an A4 sheet. Total waste of paper! Nevertheless, finally, I was a proud owner of a black cable. But the pride didn't lost long. In fact, it lasted only till I reached home later yesterday evening. The four pin end of the cable that was supposed to go inside the firewire port of my laptop, wouldn't fit properly and hence would go undetected. I tried it a few times and then during one such trial, I kind of applied too much force and that was it. I was done. One of the pins got crushed and lost its alignment. The cable was done. The black new cable. The local cable. I had not bothered to read the bill when at Computer Planet. Sitting on the sofa, I took out the bill lying somewhere inside my bag, unfolded it, and read it.

Goods once sold will not be taken back or exchanged.