Story continued...

“Don’t worry about that!” She replied and pushed a button on the wall. She spoke her name into the tiny speaker-button “Pooja Shah” and some of the cabinets opened as if by magic.
My eyes nearly dropped out of my head upon hearing her name.

Mr. Narang Shah, of the famous Shah family of industrialists, had been the innovator of the J-Mart chain of stores. Also, recently, the Shah family had been in the news for the reason that the prosperous Mr. Shah had gone missing both from private as well as public eye. In fact, the media stated, not a soul knew where he had gone or where his enormous fortune was. I stuttered “Are-are you Mr. Shah’s…?”
“…grand-daughter, yes!” she replied as she went around and examined the contents of the cabinets.
“Then, why are you working as a salesgirl?” I said, cringing as soon as it was said.
“Well, my grandfather came from very humble beginnings and started working as a salesperson. He believes that I, too, should work my way up the hierarchy here to truly understand the spirit of hard work.” She replied, looking surprised at herself for having blurted it out. She recovered and continued. “Come on, I’ll show you around. Gosh! Only twenty minutes till closing! Hurry up and choose.” She exclaimed, jolting me from my contemplation of the Shah mystery. “Price range?” she asked, crisply.
“Rs. 150-200, please.” I shrank while saying this because I was sure I would not be able to afford even a tiny ring from this magnificent array.
She picked out a beautiful old-gold bracelet with a rose petals theme and said “How about this? It has a flappable lid that makes it a watch when open and a bracelet when closed. Price- Rs. 175. Perfect!”
“Exactly! I’ll take it,” I agreed with alacrity.

She led me out and down the staircase, locking the door carefully when we came out into the aisle. Pooja and I kept conversing as we walked down to the billing counters on the first floor. As soon as the shelves came into view, I remembered that I had to buy a few things other than the gift- Spring Cola (my favorite soft drink) and a packet of cloves (for my mother). I picked them up and moved towards the counter.
As it was nearly closing time, there weren’t a lot of people waiting to get billed and I was billed immediately. Now comes the strange part.
The billing clerk looked at my list of items and looked at me. A strange look spread over his face- as if he knew something secretive. He looked at Pooja, who was standing beside me, while she directed a meaningful look back at him and smiled. What was going on?? He handed over the packet and my bill and said “Good luck! I’ll…I mean…well, you’ll see soon enough. I think you’re the first!” I was astonished at what he was saying. I decided that it was best to classify his words as babble and walked out. As I did so, the customary notice blared out from the sleek-looking speaker set in the corner of the store “The store closes in ten minutes. Please finish shopping and get your items billed at the nearest counter. Thank you.”
I went home, my mind’s cog-wheels turning round and round with my mental efforts. First, Pooja, the salesgirl, coming from such a famous family. The watch-cum-bracelet turned out to actually belong to Pooja’s famous grandmother (before I bought it, of course!) but was now being sold as a part of the supermarket’s items (which explained its low price) I remembered the billing clerk’s strange behavior and the gibberish he had spouted. What was that in aid of?