You are looking quite flushed, Pheroze. In fact, I noticed you taking short halts throughout our walk. All okay, I hope?” Lady Flora checked on her friend at their chai-and-biscuit break in the Horniman Circle Garden, after their weekend midnight walk.

“Oh yes, I was tied up with last-minute inclusions on my itinerary…New things, you know, that cropped up because of the festival…” Sir PM was being cagey, Lady Flora could tell from his shiftiness. “What do you mean by ‘last-minute inclusions’? Are you hiding something?” she wasn’t going to give up her line of questioning. And Sir PM knew his friend too well that it was best to come clean; no point in stalling the inevitable. “Well, if you must know…I fell into a trap. I got carried away…” his eyes fell as he began to share his ordeal. “I read this massive hoarding that spoke about an option to shop at a fancy destination instead of going for a heritage walk. It was prominently displayed on a busy road in South Bombay. I mistook the message on that signboard, because there were words like ‘heritage’ and walking’, and ended up on an utterly mindless shopping spree, with some help from the technologically inclined Dr. Viegas. The missus was with me, so you can imagine. It was unlike anything I had seen before. It was distracting in a financially unpleasant way…” Before he could continue, Lady Flora halted his monologue, “And, may I ask what this ‘financially unpleasant way’ was?” This query caused a twinge on Sir PM’s face. “My savings have been nearly wiped out with the relentless purchasing of products that I now realise are totally unwanted in my home. The missus also admitted that we erred in judgement,” he confessed.