List your top 5 grocery store items.
I loved the window seat in my school bus. I guess most kids do, but as they grow up, the conversations become a greater priority than the view. However, till date I still like to watch the world outside through the window of any moving vehicle except when I am driving which limits my focus more towards being safe on the road.
So, through the window of the bus I would watch the world move by, looking for familiar faces or something interesting like a peacock that were still around before the city developed with only the betterment of humanity in focus. When the bus would stop at the gate of the apartment, I would get down to find my grandfather waiting with a smile. I spent some priceless years living with my grandparents when my parents were settling things out there.
It is without a doubt that the most cherished memories for me are of my childhood with a very loving and caring family around. The more I grew up I realised that more than anything else, in the present more so ever now that some people are no longer present.
Among the bags full of childhood experiences which made my childhood special was the one of going to the market with my parents or grandparents. The toy shop was my favourite place in the market for a long time before the bookshop dethroned it in later years. When I entered the shop and saw the toys around, it was just a world of its own.
The second place which I liked to visit the most was the grocery shop. Today’s kids will never know what they missed out on. There was a time when after the toy shop it was the grocery store which had the most toys and games. Why you ask? It was a time when most brands which had any form of product which appealed to children offered something unique, a free gift. These free gifts were everywhere, inside a packet of potato chips, with the packet of chocolate nutrition drink powder, buried deep within a box of cornflakes etc. I might still have a few of them around. Now it’s all gone from the stores, you can say the time took its gifts away with it.
You can call it the lingering nostalgia of the past but in a sense, I do feel a hint of excitement on visiting stores today as well. Another reason I still like my visits is maybe because I feel one day they might disappear because of the way online stores are coming up delivering things within minutes.
So, what are the items I look forward to apart from the essentials? Coffee, yes that is the first, if there is a new brand to try or just to stock up on it for that feeling of an endless supply at home. Any cold beverage for the occasional evening television time, I did develop fondness of a coffee flavoured sparkling drink but then switched to the lemon flavoured one upon realising I needed to control the caffeine in my life.
The third item would be one which I have bought consistently since my childhood, cookies, chocolate chip cookies, there are less sugared options now although my cousin insists that’s a gimmick. The fourth item is a sign of my transition into adulthood, perfumes, I like my very affordable collection of perfume I have at home, a collection which I did not intentionally make but happened over the time on its own, due to my habit of bringing home the perfume whose smell or the discount appealed to me.
There is nothing I can think of more instantly appealing at the store than the ones I have mentioned. But if I had to select one then it would be a bottle of moisturiser, a habit my significant other has instilled in me.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “By the Aisle”
Interesting!
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