Encounters of a weird kind

Sometimes one meets very weird people, who suddenly come up to us and ask such strange questions which leave us stunned - at least me. At such times I wonder why my one-liners remain confined to my brain just when I need them the most!

I had gone with my mom to a bank. As I sat on the sofa, an elderly person, old enough to be my grandfather, asks me.. why have you bought this umbrella? It's too dark in colour!! I took a few seconds to recover from the shock.. I mean what sort of question was this.. When he asked again, aur koi rang nahin mila, I smiled and said, haan ji, jo rang mila, wahi le liya, and took refuge in my mobile phone. I thought he would give me a lecture on SMSing next and how the youth were getting spoilt and all that, but thankfully, the umbrella did it for him!! (It was blue!! What's wrong with that!!)

A few months ago, waiting at a bus stop, a woman came and sat next to me. I moved a bit, considering she was quite... ahem.. healthy.. With no bus in sight, she attempted a conversation.. Now I'm not very forthcoming with strangers, why should I be, but am polite always, so politely I answered her questions.. where are you going, where do you live, which bus will you take? A silence ensued... Seemed like her quota had finally ended when out came another gem -- Where did you buy this handbag? Reluctantly, I replied.. She persisted, how much did you get it for? It must not be more than 300-400 rupees, it doesn't look like leather. Taken aback, I raised my voice a bit and said, it's definitely leather and it's certainly not 300 rupees.. (My cool handbag was for 2,000 bucks!!!) She persisted, saying batao na, kahan se liya, kitne ka liya.. That was when I saw the bus which would take me home and I got up saying I had to leave!!! God, people can be so weird!

A similar incident at a bank (why does it mostly happen in banks) -- a lady sitting next to me compliments me on what I'm wearing.. I forget the colour but I think it was a salwar-kameez.. She starts: very nice suit, kahan se liya, readymade hai ya silwaya hai.. again I answered as politely as I could and looked towards Mom to see how long she would take. The lady obviously had time to spare and continued: Ise machine wash kar sakte hain? I said no, because it has embroidery.. haan yehi dikkat hoti hai aise kapde lene main, she continued and began to judge the cloth for herself, scrutinising it, touching it aage-peeche.. that's when I began to lose it and got up!

Have you ever met such people? I mean, really, what kind of questions are these! And then there are others, who are outright rude and violate rules and break queues and.. I won't even go there.. If you're having a nice day, this seems like fun, you think, how does it matter, the world consists of all kinds of people.. but if you're not.... need I say more??