"Indira nagar, 1 ticket", she said to the conductor. The bus was full and she was running 5 minutes late. The conductor ripped a ticket with apparent belligerence from the pile in his hand and thrust the crumpled piece of paper into her hand. She opened it, saw the "Rs. 5-50" on it, folded it neatly and slid it under the strap of her watch. It was going to be atleast 20 minutes before she reached the mall. With a blank mind, she saw three bus stops go by. People climbed in and some people climbed out. An eerie sort of camarederie seemed to have developed between the regular bus-travellers on that route. No one spoke. Yet, everyone seemed to know everyone else. It had been six months since she had taken up the job at the mall. Her elder cousin had managed to get her that job as a sales girl. Her stop arrived. The familiar people got down with her at her stop and she glanced at her watch. 10 minutes late. The staff was supposed to be at the mall half an hour before it opened. She started walking briskly towards the other end of the main road, with her cheap leather-looking plastic hand bag hanging on her right shoulder and her high heels maintaining minimum contact with the asphalt. Cars sped by behind her as she opened the door of the store and the air-conditioning enveloped her into this new world for the remaining part of the day. She quickly changed into the saree which was a part of the uniform and put her name badge on. Coffee was served to all staff members in small plastic cups. She gulped it down and rushed to the women's jeans section. The picture of a petite fashionable woman loomed large behind her. "Goodness Jeans" screamed the banner above the woman with the punch line "For today's woman of substance". She knew spoken English and had tried in vain to understand how the word substance fitted-in with the woman on that poster. "Size 26, straight fit please", said the girl to her while looking in the distance. The girl was in her teens, roughly the same age as her daughter. She visualised her daughter wearing jeans and a smile of happiness momentarily passed her face. Rummaging through the pile of size 26 jeans, she found one with a straight fit and handed it to the girl. The girl had walked-in holding hands with a guy of around her age. She looked at the couple and wondered how it was to be in love. How did it feel to hold the guy's hand whom you looked up to and felt comfortable with. She had never had the luxury to feel that all-encompassing emotion. She had got married at a young age and after years of never understanding her husband, her husband had fled leaving her and a young daughter to fetch for themselves. Love must be wonderful, she thought to herself as she looked further in the pile of jeans to find another color. Around the same time, the guy came up with a popcorn bag for the girl and smiled and put his arm around her. A warmth engulfed both the girl and the lady. She wanted to ask her how it felt. Although she knew she would never get to experience it, she just wanted someone to explain to her how beautiful it really is. The intimacy of the couple left her in a state of unexplainable happiness for a long time. Her thoughts went back to her daughter. She was now of a marriage-able age. Life would now change for her, just like it had done for her mother so many years ago. She didn't want her daughter to be deprived of being in love. But alas, she knew that people of her stature could not afford to dream of a luxury like love. Love, for her, was defined and exemplified in this huge mall which had hundreds of couples spending a lot of money. Her exposure to this fine concept of love happened for the first time when she took up this job. Her neighbourhood did not seem to have any trace of it. The young couple walked on, hand-in-hand. She sighed and put the pile of jeans back onto the rack. Her parents had found a suitable boy for her daughter. She had to work overtime to earn that extra money to be able to arrange for a decent wedding. Suddenly, she was grateful that her daughter had not seen this world of love. Else, it might have been difficult to convince her to get married. The by-now-all-too-familiar words filled the thinking voids of her mind and her work for the day went into full swing. "Size 28, regular fit, boot-cut, how much, Size 26, where to bill, excuse me, comfort fit, low-waist, black color, lighter shade, alteration, trial room". All these words were her companions for the day. The word love never appeared. Never would. She was, after all, just a sales girl in a mall.