After months of online shopping, there is something invigorating about returning to brick-and-mortar stores
I am not an ingrate, so I will be the first to admit that online shopping kept me sane during the Covid lockdowns. And even after the pandemic-related restrictions eased, I continued to shop online for many months, out of an abundance of caution. But ever since the Covid numbers have shown a steady decline in Delhi, I have mustered up the courage to step out to the shops for a spot of retail therapy. And I use the term ‘therapy’ advisedly because just the simple act of shopping when I can see, touch, smell things before I commit to buying them has brought me so much pleasure.
When I was sequestered at home, I had ordered some Le Crueset pots and pans online, justifying the expense by telling myself that these would last me a lifetime. But there was something oddly disquieting about choosing things on the basis of a few photographs on Amazon. And even though I didn’t regret my purchases, the process of ordering them felt curiously joyless. So, you can imagine my delight when I finally made it to the store, where I could look at the entire selection, marvel over the myriad colours on offer, pick up the cast-iron pans and roasting trays to feel how they handled, before I finally made my purchase. In a strange way, the pans I bought in-person brought me more joy than the stuff I had purchased in an entirely impersonal way.
It was much easier to buy gadgets when I could actually examine them in the shop, have a sales assistant explain how they worked, or even have a live demonstration to help me make up my mind. I had been agonizing over buying an Instant Pot for months on end, for instance, checking it out on various e-commerce sites, but somehow I couldn’t bring myself to press the ‘Buy now’ button just on the basis of what I read on the sites. But when Dhanteras came around, and I nipped out to the shops to buy something for the house, it was the Instant Pot that my eyes fixed on. I examined it from all angles, while the shop owner explained its many features to me. And before you could say ‘slow cook mode’ I was walking out of the shop, the proud owner of an Instant Pot, without any of the dithering I had engaged in online.
Clothes shopping, which had felt like a chore when I was doing it online, turned into a joy when I ventured out to brick-and-mortar stores. The very act of riffling my fingers through the outfits on the racks, experiencing the sensuous feel of silk on my skin, the soft touch of cotton, or even the light-as-air caress of chiffon, made me feel alive in a way that online shopping never could. And then, there was the bonus of actually being able to try on clothes, to see how they looked on me, how they felt against my skin, and whether the cut was flattering or just plain unsuited to me. There is no way you can do all that while shopping online. And yes, you can always return the outfits that don’t match your expectations when you finally try them on, but honestly, where is the fun in that?
The most fun I had, though, as I ventured back into the world, was when I went vegetable shopping. Even though my friendly neighbourhood subziwallah had kept me well-supplied with all my staples throughout the Corona crisis, I missed the feeling of actually going to the shop and looking at all the wares on display, of having all of my senses involved in the purchase of what we would eat for lunch and dinner. I longed to choose the plumpest tomatoes on display. I wanted to smell the fresh perfume of the season’s first methi crop. I needed to test the firmness of every apple before I put it into my basket. And when the day dawned when I could finally do all that, it felt like a slice of normalcy had been restored to my life.
At the end of the day, that’s all that we long for, isn’t it? A bit of normalcy. And nothing says normal like being able to pop out to the shops.
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