A room of one's own

One unassuming afternoon, Aditi set out on a shopping spree with her mother, grandmother and aunt for the latter’s impending wedding. The women were, as any group of women going shopping would be, extremely excited. They headed to this swanky, newly-renovated store in the heart of the city for some very serious purchasing.

All of three, Aditi was quickly mesmerised by the colours and sparkly fabrics on display. So she set out to explore the store and its offerings while the ladies began short-listing outfits for her aunt to try. After every nook and cranny of the shiny new store was explored, she returned to the three hyper ladies who were surrounded by yards and yards of materials.

It was then that something quite interesting caught her attention. Her aunt kept going into a little room in the corner, and whenever she got out, she was wearing something new! As her aunt modelled a pretty outfit for her mom and granny, Aditi marched to this magical room.

A few minutes later, when it was time for the aunt to try something new, everyone realised that the changing room’s door was locked, and that little Aditi was missing.

Suppressing panic, they knocked at the door. Aditi responded with a playful giggle, and their panic hit the roof. They began to cajole her into opening the latch and stepping out only to realise that, though she had managed to lock herself in, the three-year-old didn’t know how to get herself out.

Everyone at the store got involved; tears started streaming down Aditi and her mom’s face. Her granny demanded her daughter to be strong, and on hearing her voice, Aditi demanded her grandmother to sing her favourite song. So while some singing ensued to calm the nerves, the workers at the store got their grey cells working.

They decided to saw a circle on the ceiling right about the changing room, and rope the child out. The only problem was that it threatened to cave out and fall on Aditi. Armed with the little one’s favourite music, her grandmother talked her into hugging the door tight while ‘operation hole in the ceiling’ proceeded.

The drama lasted about three hours and at last, little Aditi was saved from the evil changing room. Her mother warned her not to squeal a word to her father, and though she agreed, Aditi couldn’t contain her excitement about her (mis)adventure when she saw her loving daddy’s face.

At the end of the tale, Aditi’s mom told me that when she had gone back to the store a few months later, they brought to her notice how the latch in the changing room was now secured safely on top, far from the reach of children. 

All I could manage to say was, “You went back!?”