The Recession...

...is everywhere. The downtown area of my town is busy as ever, but behind the bustle, stores had been vanishing quietly, something that had escaped my notice. The main row of buildings is as crowded as ever, but in the rear, only shells of stores remain. Small businesses have vanished, the instruments of their trade - manicure and pedicure stations, empty, velvet jewelry holders in a window - remain like dusty skeletons. Some tell me that the bigger players too are in trouble but are holding on. We shall see.

Yesterday, I stopped by the post office. It was a quick errand and, like a fool, I left my handbag on the front seat of my car outside. As I returned, a passerby - tall, lean, furrowed brow - peered in at it, with unusually longing eyes. I cursed my stupidity. Those accumulated survival skills, developed while growing up in India and then honed to razor sharp edge by 7 years of living in Chicago, have been softened and blurred by eight years of surburban life. I need to revive those instincts.