I hail from the southern part of India. In these parts, we do not have a winter to speak of. Our minimum temperatures would never go below 20 degrees Celsius. But it is not so in the north of our country. It could be quite cold out there during winter, though not as extreme as in several parts of the world where temps record on the minus side during winters. Here temperatures would drop down to less than ten in most parts. But for a person from the south, it could be quite testing.

During last winter, I had to make a sudden trip, up north. Expectedly, one would think that I would not be in possession of any winter clothing, A decent sweater was the barest minimum one had to have for the trip. But I would say I was a little lucky in this regard. Because I possessed, not one, but two sweaters. But whether it would do for the occasion was a different question.

The first one belonged to a different age, so to speak. It was purchased about ten years back during our only trip to our most famous hill resort of the South. I still remember the rather physically- well -endowed Nepali lady who sold me that piece. She made me wear it and duly certified rather gleefully that it fitted me well. I too did not think it warranted a second thought before deciding to take it home. But back at home in a more relaxed atmosphere I was wise enough to conclude that any fool other than me would have found it hopelessly ill-fitting in the first try itself.

“You didn’t notice it at that time. You were also there…”, I tried finding fault with my wife as usual. She did not say a word and walked away rather expansively with a meaningful smile .

My second sweater was purchased from where I can’t recollect now. But it was more elegant looking. But I was not sure if it would give me the right protection from temps hovering around 5 or 6 degrees Celsius.

So it was why I walked into the most glitzy textile showroom of my town to purchase one of the right quality. As expected the prices were flying sky-high there. Why should I spend a fortune on this, since, in any case, I was not going to live in the North for ever. So thinking I turned back The saleswoman whispered something to her colleague and giggled. Was she taking a dig at me. I felt rather miffed. I walked into the modest looking showroom right across the road and got what I wanted at my own terms.