Taming of the Fair Shrew

If the plight of an individual asked to blunt the thorns on a cactus plant seems absurd to you, how would you describe the plight of Robert Clive, a store manager at `Aristocracy’ who had been asked to supervise whitening the black granite flooring of his shop. He would have chucked his job but for the fact that his new owner Saravanan had doubled his salary a few hours ago.

                He could not fathom why his new owner targeting him because he had just finished whitening Saravanan’s mobile cover with correction fluid. Sarvanan was humiliating Robert Clive only to make him realize that color does not matter.

                It was yesterday that Saravanan’s dark skinned daughter Lakshmi stepped into `Arsitocracy’ to check out on the attitude of Robert Clive, the store manager. He could sell an Armani suit to a client who came to purchase a tie pin but at the same time he considered dark skinned and simple dressed customers as `Middle Class Window Shopping Pests’. He himself was British White thanks to one of his great great grand mothers working for his namesake from history. He even spoke his mother tounge Tamil with an angelical accent.

                Lakshmi, who the founder member of  SLHIT (Simple Living and High In Thoughts) group and disliked appearing in public like a fancy store on two legs.  Clad in a pair of old jeans; untied hair; without a trace of make-up and a Nokia 3100 in hand she had stepped into `Aristocracy’.

Robert Clive who always stood on the first floor overlooking the entrance, without a second thought rated her as a Middle Class Pest (MCP). He had a special drill to humiliate such intruders. On spotting such a customer making an entry, he would hum the song `Mera Jootha Hain Japani’  to indicate the perceived low class of the intruder. As a part of the drill, the sales personnel first would reluctantly answer the customer and if that did not succeed they would start saying `that’s too costly’ for any question the customer asked. At the peak, the customer would find everything he/ she touched being sprayed with room perfume. Lakshmi got the full course of treatment but left the store with calmness of a sage on her face.

As Robert Clive was supervising whitening the black granite flooring, in stepped Lakshmi, screaming `Hi, Appa’ and hugged Sarvanan. Robert Clive realized that his time was up and proceeded to walk out. Saravanan put his hands across Robert’s shoulder and said `No need to quit the job. It was just to make you realize the importance of individuals and non-importance of their color and dress. Remember, we are in business, if you disregard dark skinned customers, they will show you the fairest part of their body, bottom of their foot’. Thus, ends taming of the fair shrew.