The Regret –

It was month of November. It was early morning, around 7-15am. He was not feeling cold anymore even with the cold chilly wind blowing around. His eyes were moist. He had not realized that he would have to face this situation today. He was now thinking if only he had been a little bit brave on the previous day; this situation could have been avoided. After every few minutes he used to remember this very moment and again the tears would gush down his cheeks. Even the cold blowing wind could not dry the tears up on his cheeks.

It would take another half hour to reach home now. He was traveling on a two wheeler sitting on the back seat. His dad was riding the two wheeler and they were now returning home. He was hoping that they would reach home early, very early, but you cannot beat the distance by just hoping. Even without any traffic on road, his tuition classes would take atleast 45mins of travel on two-wheeler. Usually every morning his dad would wake him up early and travel all the way to drop him to his tuition class which begins at 7am. It was a daily routine, but today was different, a lot different. So his agony did not end even when he reached home after half an hour. His dad parked the two-wheeler in basement; he did not look at his son at all. He just entered the house and straight-away headed to bedroom and slept off. He knew that it was his son’s mistake but he had already forgiven his son for this. His mom followed him right behind and took his temperature reading and result read 103 degrees.

His tears were not stopping at all. He just wanted to say that he was truly very sorry to his dad but did not muster any courage to speak and he continued to cry and cry silently sitting in a corner of the hall.

It all started in morning when dad knew that it was public holiday today. Also he knew that he was not feeling well that day, so he asked his son – “Are you sure, you have your tuition classes today?” Son - “Yes, Sure dad, our teacher did not inform about the class being canceled today”.  So he got dressed up as usual with an additional sweater on to protect as much as possible from the cold wind. At 6-45am Dad and son were in front of tuition place. The son gets down and rushes towards the classroom only to see that it is locked with a note on door saying – “Class canceled due to public holiday”. Son was shattered to see that. He had dragged his dad out in cold when he was not feeling well. He knew it was his mistake which he did on the previous day and he realized it now. He thought he would spend some time there and wait till his dad returns back. He could not dare to tell his dad that it was holiday and they had traveled all the way needlessly in this cold weather. He peeped through corner of the wall to see if his dad is still there and saw that his dad was waiting for him without returning. Son had no choice now. He had to go back to his dad now and tell him the truth. He mustered all the courage that he could and went back to his dad. In meantime, his dad had already asked the watchman of that building to check if classes were being conducted today or not and after knowing the truth he was waiting there for his son. He did not ask anything more to his son, just saw his son return and turned on the two-wheeler to return back home.

On previous day – At the end of the class, he knew his teacher had informed all students about something which he could not hear clearly. He now realized that it was this same thing about classes being canceled. If only he was brave enough to just ask back the teacher on what he informed or for that matter of fact, any student who had listened to the teacher’s information, this situation could’ve been avoided. But he did not, nor did he care to bother. His ignorance had now turned into a biggest mistake of his life. He could only sit in the back seat behind his dad and regret for what he had done.

Even after many years now, the regret still lingers in his heart and he only wants to tell his dad how sorry he was for that day but alas the hard truth is that his dad does not live anymore today.

[THE END]

Three Amigos and a memorable drive – Part – 2 -

(Missed the first part…. Click here)

Suddenly we saw a hotel open and a petrol bunk nearby. We decided to intake our fuel first and let the car wait for sometime. So we barged into the hotel and a waiter came to take the order. Me: “Idli vada for all?” Others agreed, but it means nothing if we agreed, the main guy waiter replied: “No idli vada. Still not ready, sir” Ok, so we changed our order to masala dosa or poori. Waiter: “Not yet ready sir. Only vegetable upma is available. If you wait for five minutes, I will get vada also”. We all stared at each other then in one voice: “Get the upma first and start making vada’s and get them too.” When you are hungry, anything you eat seems tasty. That day, the upma was so tasty that we were almost tempted to order another plate, but just as we finished our upma, the vada’s were ready on our table. We pounced into vadas and finished that in no time. It was hot and again tasted delicious. Then had a cup of coffee each and then as we started to leave, we remembered that it was a decision time. Remember we had to take one of the two routes from spot 1. This was exactly the spot 1 where we had to deviate from highway. We looked at each other and discussed on which route to take. Obviously we were not able to decide. Best thing now was to gamble. Out came the one rupee coin, heads – route 1 (little bad one) tails – route 2 (better one). Flipped the coin in air.

We took car to petrol bunk, added fuel and continued on the route 1. Few kms on that route and it seemed to be nice road. So Prashanth spoke up: “Hey this is not bad at all. Seems good road” Just then the potholes started from nowhere. After some distance, the road got better. This time Prasad said: “Ok, seems like only that part was bad” Just as he spoke, again the road got bad. Some more time and again the road got better. We stared at each other and nobody dared to speak about the road condition now. We did not want to take any chances especially when we had encountered such situations with rain first and now roads. So we continued our drive silently. Thankfully the road continued to be better and finally we reached our first destination Sirsi. In Sirsi, we had to search for some new bus stand and continue on that route to reach Hulekal.

So whenever we came at some junction where the road split into two, we searched for sign boards as to which road goes where. Surprisingly the sign boards always pointed in one direction and always showed the way where one of the roads lead. There was not even a single clue as to where the other road leads. Somehow with our own guesses we took one or the other roads and at every such split junction, we always knew where one road goes but not the other. Thanks to the “well planned” sign boards. Finally we had to take help of some people who mislead us for some time on wrong routes and finally lead us onto the correct one.

Finally we reached Hulekal. People greeted us and gave us some scolding for our night drive. Then we freshened up, had one more round of breakfast and at this moment we were totally tired and exhausted. Our eyes were slowly coming down and vision was getting blur. At around 10am, all 3 of us thought of taking a small nap and slept off. We slept like logs on that day and don’t think we even changed the position in which we slept and finally we got up when we were forcibly woken up for lunch at 2pm. Then had lunch, went out for some shopping and finally returned home at night for yet another long sleep. Next morning we were supposed to leave back to Bangalore with my wife at around 7am, but as usual we got up late due to our tiredness and finally left for our return journey at 11am.

So this marked the end of my first night drive and the most amazing till now. I still don’t know how our elder people agreed for our night drive. We three amigos set off without any planning or schedule or the proper decided route on this memorable and the most enjoyable drive which I would cherish all the time. As far as possible, would be avoiding anymore night drives as it is always safer to drive in the morning than night. Nevertheless, this night drive would always remain as a wonderful memory for rest of my life.

[THE END]

Three Amigos and a memorable drive – Part – 1 -

So it was decided, we three (myself and my two cousins - Prasad and Prashanth) will be going to my native place Hulekal (another 16kms from Sirsi) in my car which would be marking my first night drive of my life. Mission: - To pick up my wife from her native place and get back to Bangalore. Well, problem was to convince the elder people now. Since Prasad had done night driving many times when he was in US, it was probably not difficult to convince my mom and grandma anyway. So that would mean our key to this night drive was to get my mom and grandma convinced. Another problem – this was in month of November-2008, and it was raining from last couple of days.

It was Friday night and we 3 met at my place with our bags packed. Slowly we had to talk to my mom and grandma somehow. We were looking at each other to see who is going to start first. So then, I began “Hmmm… so shall we leave at 12 am?” This was only to get my mom’s attention and it worked like a charm. Mom: “WHAT? Did I hear 12am? NO…NO…No… It is very risky. No night driving.” Me: “No its fine mom, We 3 are there and all of us know driving. Prasad has done it many times in US… right Prasad?” I turned to him. My Mom too turned to him and gave him a scary stare. Prasad was cornered now, he coolly started back “Yeah Maami, its ok. We will manage.” Mom: “What if it rains, no no… cannot allow. You guys can go early in morning around 3am or 4am.” Prasad: “Oh maami, that would be difficult. It would be like we all will be half-asleep. Instead we will not sleep for now if we have to leave at 3am.” Mom: (cooling down but half-convinced) “Hmmm ok, alright. That’s fine then. So you guys decided on route? Check with your uncle about the routes once.” I agreed and called up our elderly uncle who was always the first pick when we wanted to decide on some routes to take to our native place.

Me: “Hello uncle… We wanted to know which route to take”

Elder Uncle: “yes. There are two routes from spot1. First route has some shaky road and second route is a bit farther but it is good. I suggest you take that second route. So when are you guys leaving?”

Me: “At around 3am morning.”

Elder Uncle: (Sounding disturbed) “You 3 people leaving so early. Don’t be stupid guys, listen to me. Have a good sleep, get up at around 6 have a cup of tea and leave by 6-30.”

Me: “Ok Uncle. Thank you. We will do that. Bye.”

So kept the phone and we discussed about that and again stuck with our 3AM plan. My mom watched for another half hour, none of us were willing to take a nap fearing it will be difficult to wake up early. Realizing that it will be of no use, she tells us to leave by midnight itself. Atleast we would reach there early morning and can sleep peacefully. Overjoyed with our plans on track, we freshened up and got ready to begin our journey. Exactly at midnight, we started our journey.

I suggested taking a short-cut and we start off. 10mins into that short-cut route and we see a road-block (Road under construction). We have to get back all the way and half an hour after our journey started, we are still in front of our home. We silently take the longer route and re-start our journey again. Finally we are on the highway. The weather is also pleasant with small drizzle here and there. One and half hours into the journey and I am beginning to enjoy my first night drive when Prasad’s phone starts ringing. It is my mom on phone asking where we are. Prasad says: “Yeah Maami, going fine. Everything is good…. Yeah… No rain yet…. Ok bye” Then he keeps the phone. As soon as phone is kept, it starts raining heavily. For the next 4-5 hours, this repeats every hour - Mom calls, we tell “No rain” and once we keep phone, it starts raining heavily. Then we take our normal breaks for photographs at night somewhere on highway. Finally at around 6 in morning, we search for fuel, Fuel for our car as well as for ourselves. All 3 of us are feeling hungry now. We had never thought staying awake at night makes you feel hungry sooner and much before normal breakfast time. So first we stop at a petrol bunk but find nobody there to fill the petrol. We search for a while, shout for a while but nobody yet. So we again continue our journey looking out for petrol bunk as well as a hotel….

(To be continued… Click here)

Changing the light bulb

"Hello Listen, the light bulb is not working outside. Replace it now." Came the voice from my wife. I was watching highlights of a close cricket match which I had missed before. I ignored the first request (order) from my wife and continued to watch the match. "Replace it NOW". Universe just got cruel, it does not want me to watch the match peacefully. I reluctantly turn my face from the TV and look at my wife, she is staring me angrily and does not look like she has any plans to let me watch match peacefully.

I calculate to myself, the match is there for another half an hour and it will take me 5 minutes to change the light bulb especially when the new light bulb is already available in home. This means I do not have to go to shop and buy a new one. So it was a piece of cake. So I get up quickly, go outside. I see that the lightbulb to change is hanging on the roof which I cannot reach without a ladder. So I go inside the house again get the ladder and come out. My mom is talking to someone on phone sitting on the swing in the portico. I set up my ladder just behind her which she notices and points to me at something and continues to talk on the phone. I tend to ignore my mom's action, climb the ladder remove the bulb and fix the new bulb to the holder. Get down and my mom again points at something and continues to talk on phone. I again ignore and go inside the house and switch on the just fixed bulb. It lights up. Mission Accomplished.

Happy at completing the job within 4 minutes, I go back to my position and start watching the match. My wife goes out and checks and again calls me that bulb is not working. I think she must've checked the wrong one and continue to watch my match. She again comes to me and pulls me out again and shows me that the bulb. I am dumbstruck staring at the bulb which is not working and which is completely different from the one I replaced. It is the other bulb which is just at the reachable height in the portico and does not need the ladder. My wife started again - "Oh God, I told you to change that bulb and you have changed this one!!!", I retort back - "Well, you did not tell which bulb specifically!! Hence I assumed to be this bulb". Wife - "Ayyo... Rama". 

The complete scene just dawns on me that I just replaced the bulb which was already in the working condition. The whole 4 mins which I was proud of was now looking like a time-pass. Now I also realise that my mom was pointing to the bulb which was not working and I ignored. I just Feeling so stupid, I just replaced that non-working bulb with the previous one which I had removed from the roof. An extra 10mins wasted and my match over as well.

One more lesson for software engineers to properly understand requirements before jumping into the implementation.

--The End--

Harry Potter... Who?

"Harry Potter... Who?". This is exactly the question I asked to my friend in college when he told me that a new movie called "Harry Potter-Chamber of secrets" was released in theaters. I asked my friend - "Isn't this a kid's movie? Just some special effects and nothing else right?". He stared at me as if I had made a crime in asking that question. He did not bother to answer me on that, instead he took out a book called "Harry Potter-Sorcerer's stone" from his bag and handed over to me. I always thought this Harry Potter was a movie made for kids and was also surprised to see that the movie was also based on book series with same name. I was also not a kind of novel reader at that stage. First thing after seeing that book, I opened up last page to see how many pages do I have to go through to finish this book. It was 236.

Somehow I made up my mind of spending some time on this book to see what is so special about this guy called Harry Potter. Opened up and started to read the book. Into second chapter and somehow the book had got over me completely. It suddenly turned out that I had actually started enjoying to read this book. Slow and steady read turned into a swift interesting read and within a week (I know its a bit long, time but for myself, this was a new record) I had finished up the first part of the series. On same weekend, some of us friends got-together and watched the first movie in a original dvd. The concept of DVD was new then. In the world of floppy drives, the word DVD made you raise your eyebrows and just say WOW. Naturally we were all excited about watching the movie on a DVD. It turned out to be quite a wonderful experience of watching the first part on DVD and since the book was read recently by every person there, we broke into discussions about some incidents which were not covered in the movie etc etc.

I had started becoming quite interested in this series now. I heard that that part-5 of the book had been recently released. I was still on one. Immediately the next day, I bought part-2 from my friend and started reading that. couple of weeks time and the part-2 was done and dusted. Then moved on with the third. The third was slightly complicated and the series had just moved into a teenage phase. Suddenly I realized this series was just not for kids anymore. We also booked tickets for this third movie when it got released. I had the pleasure of going to this movie with some friends who had not read the third book yet. As proud as I was about knowing the story of the movie, I had to explain lot of things from movie to my other friends. It turned out that I explained more than watching the movie.

Then came the fourth book which changed every view in me about this series. The fourth part was just so amazing and interesting that I could just not let the book down even for a minute. This was the book I finished the quickest with my reading sessions extending until 3am and I had to forcibly put the book down to get some sleep. Somehow I was turning into a novel reader now. Was getting to know some new authors like Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon etc. Then came the fifth book. The slowest of the lot and the most boring on the series. Somehow dragged it for couple of months and finally completed that one too.

The sixth part was still another 6-8 months away. Everyone were waiting for that. When it came out, everyone in our class was eager to get their first shot at the book. Finally I got my chance after couple of week's wait and this was somehow again got the interest back in the series. Quite brilliant and a shock in the end which shook the whole basis of the series. This book induced few questions which were supposed to be answered in seventh part but the concept for seventh book was clearly laid out. Everyone were just eagerly waiting for the release of seventh book and it was an year away from release. When release date came near, I was so excited that I had pre-booked the book to be delivered on first day of the release. Indeed I got the book delivered on first day of the release and immediately started into it. Couple of week's time and I was finished with the series. Suddenly it felt so over. No more books, no more wait only waiting for further movie releases in this series.

So here I am coming out of the movie theatre after watching the final chapter of the Harry Potter. Somehow it was all over now. No more movies as well in the series now. Thinking back at how I had a belief about the series being for kids and later got me dragged so much into it that I had to pre-order the final part of the series. One year was all that changed my view about reading novels. Somehow I started feeling that reading a book was much more wonderful feeling than watching the movie. People say "A picture is worth a thousand words", but this series taught me that I would rather go for more words than picture. I had never thought about reading novel but here I was after completing 7 books which started my hunger of reading novels. A new change, still continuing to read other novels but none as exciting as the time spent on this Harry Potter series. Now I would never have to say "Harry Potter... Who?" because I know that he is the one who turned me into a novel reader....!!!!

Are there any silly questions?

"Tring, Tring", the bell was ringing in my head or was it my phone ringing. Yes, it was my phone ringing but why am I not picking it up. Slowly, I open one eye and look at my phone. It is still ringing. Slowly I move my right hand towards phone and hold it near my right ear and speak "Hello, who is it?". "hey its me, your friend. Did I wake you up?". Its my office friend, suddenly I think I am probably late for office and open both my eyes. I look at the time, its 5am in the morning. So I am actually not late to office but my friend is really very early in calling me. I think do I really need to answer his question?. My mind answers "What else do you think I will be doing at this time".

With great control on my anger, I reply back politely - "Oh no.. not at all. Whats the matter? How come you called me so early in morning?"
He replies - "I was just heading towards Mysore. Wanted to know if the road near your house which connects to kanakapura road, is it proper? Last time it was under repair".
Me( Oh, do you think I keep track of all roads around my house on weekly basis? ) - "Hmm... Ah... I think it should be proper by now. Its been a long time I went that side. You better take the longer route."
my friend - "Oh yes. Thanks a lot man. You continue to sleep now. Will talk to you later. Bye for now".

So I keep the phone. With my sleep gone, I get up and think about the incident. Was the first question really genuine and was the answer from my side really mattered? I mean, obviously my friend DID wake me up and he knew that too, still he went on to ask the question as a formality. To continue with the same formality procedures, I did answer with a NO, but deep inside, both of us knew what went on. Also even if I had answered him with an YES, I think he would still have continued with his next question with a "sorry for waking up" statement.

Scene - 2 -

Recently I was watching the IPL final on TV. Suddenly my mom asked me "Which team has the highest score in IPL?". I replied - "Chennai - 246 or something".
mom - "Who won that match?"

I stared at my mom. Was that really an intentional question? My team was already getting thrashed on TV, over top of that do I really need to answer this question?. My mom was still looking at me and probably was expecting an answer too. Wasn't that obvious if Chennai has scored highest total, then naturally they did WIN IT. Yes, there are other rare conditions, if it rained and the duckworth-Lewis method was applied, but that would not be the case in 99% of such matches and I do not think my mom was thinking about that either. I just held on to myself and explained her the logic, if Chennai had not won that, then some other team would've got the highest total right?. Relief atlast. Obviously my mom got the hint and got the answer too. I continued to watch the finals where my team was getting beaten by same Chennai side.

Scene - 3 -

I got some news from a family friend. I told this to my wife. She was pretty excited and asked me "Who told you this?". Natural instinct, I thought. Obviously when some news is important people tend to ask the source. I told her yeah, that person told me. Immediately she asked back - "Did he message you or call you or email you?"

Now, here is a question again which I tend to think, should I answer. I mean how would the answer to this question make any difference to the news. I held on to silence for a while and really wanted not to answer this, but my wife peppered me with same question for the next 5 mins. I really ran out of patience and told her that it was through an email. She felt relieved and did not bug me any further. Looking happy she went away for other work. I really wondered, if that answer really was so important?

So here I am, still not conclusive about the silly questions? Are there really silly questions where answers really do not matter and yet we continue to ask them in our day to day life? I really think, yes since it has become a part of our life. Whats life without being a bit silly after-all. Have you guys gone through such stuff too?

Finally ending the blog with one from my side - "Did you guys like the above blog?" (Never mind to answer this...!!!)

--END--

Chakde India

The whole Indian team is watching chakde India on a big screen on the eve of a big knock-out match in world cup to keep themselves relaxed and get some inspiration from the movie. The coach of the Indian cricket team (Gary) moves out for some reason. After sometime a watchman comes and tells Sehwag something in his ears. Sehwag gets up and goes out to the cricket ground. There he sees Sachin standing and waiting.

Sehwag - "Hey Sachin, why did you call me here now?"
Sachin - "Hey, I did not call you, it was you who called me"
Sehwag - "Why would I call you when watching a nice movie with others?"
Gary (comes out of shadows) - "I have called you guys here"
Sachin and Sehwag - "Why?"
Gary (Taking a deep breath) - "Tomorrow we are going to lose the big match"
Sachin and Sehwag (looking at each other in surprise and back to Gary) - "What do you mean? Have you fixed the match?"
Gary - "No, but we would lose the match because of you two"
Sachin and Sehwag(Looking perplexed) - "Why do you think so?"
Gary - "Because you two have been playing so well at the top and giving good starts for the team. With such good starts, our middle order has not even had any decent match practice. Also due to your good starts, the target is so high for oppositions, that our bowlers get relaxed and bowl as if they have already won the match.This has made our bowlers forget how to bowl under pressure. You know when you two go out into middle to bat, our batsmen do not even bother to pad up because they all know that you two do not get out so easily. They do not even turn out for batting practice sessions since they seldom get a chance to bat. The fielders field as if they have all the runs in world to defend and dont care if they just leave aa couple of boundaries. They do not understand the importance of every single run unless the match comes to a very close finish. It would be too late then to realize. One match if you two get out soon, then the rest of the team will not be able to cope up with the pressure. However there is one problem which is critical. Running between wickets from you two."
Sachin and Sehwag - "Yes, Gary. We are working to improve upon that".
Gary - "You guys always start hitting boundaries at will and when it comes to last couple of deliveries in an over, you guys try to retain strike by taking singles. Do you think the opposition captain/coach are fools to not notice this clear strategy from you two? They can keep the field out for first 4 deliveries and then bring the fielder IN with last two deliveries."
Sehwag - "You tell this to Sachin. The crowd always cheer louder when he is on strike even tough I give a bright start with boundaries. Also he is the one who takes quick singles with couple of deliveries left."
Gary(to Sehwag)- "So are you planning to not respond and get him run out instead?. This is exactly what the opposition captain wants too. And you Sachin, you have seen all these in your 20 years of cricketing experience, why do you still go for those quick singles in last two deliveries when you can take some more time and give Sehwag some strike too".
Sachin (looking timid) - "I... I never did it on purpose, it was just pure instinct in me, that urges me to keep the strike and get more and more runs for the country."
Gary(With full feelings and looking sad) - "You guys... you guys do not know how heavy the burden of defeat in world cup big matches are. I have been through this in the 1999 world cup when my mate lance and donald could not get one run which costed us the cup. The burden of that defeat is still lingering in the hearts of millions of people in my country even today. I do not want the same to happen with this team here. So how you want to play, you guys decide. I am going to dhoni to discuss about our other strategies for tomorrow's big match."


**** Gary leaves and joins the other team members who are still watching the movie ****


Sachin and Sehwag look at each other and Sachin speaks out - "I have been playing cricket for more than 20 years now and I am hungry for more runs. Since this would probably be my last world cup, I would still thrive to make runs for myself and my country and do everything right to win the cup for my country. I will also definitely be the top run-getter in this tournament."
Sehwag - "I am the leading run getter in this tournament now. Even I will see to it that I keep my position as top run getter in the tournament. Also what are you trying to prove to me by being top run getter?"
Sachin - "I dont want to prove anything to you, I just want to prove it to the people of my country who again and again point fingers at my calibre to win matches even after giving them so many centuries and so many victories. I want to show them what a single man can do if he is hurt by his own people. I just want to prove it to other people out there..."
Sehwag - "Oye, dont worry, even I will see who will point fingers at you. We will together score as much runs for the team as for the country, let other team members support us or not."

Both of them shake hands and move towards the team members. In the background - title track of Chakde India is going on.....
[Hoping India to win the world cup this time... not just for Sachin, but for his wonderful career which has entertained for more than 20 years now.]

Another eventful start for new year - 2 -

Missed the first part? - Click Here to read the first part.


So the new plan was again laid out. It was time for lunch. Then we would first search the batteries in this mall and then take the car and go to bus stand to drop my mumbai cousin and finally retire to home sweet home. It sounded good only if things got placed as we thought. We had our lunch in food court of that mall and then asked some person if he can guide us to some shop where we can get the things we are looking for. He told us to go to Fizz, a photo shop on 3rd floor. Excited about getting the autocop batteries so soon, we ran to that place only to find out that he did not have that stuff. Again we asked him to guide us for next one, and he promptly showed us the Staples on 5th floor. We had to again climb two more floors just to see more disappointment. Then the same process continued until we were guided out of the mall.


Outside there was a huge stationery shop. I went in and asked him if he can tell us where we can find any car showrooms. This was our yet another master plan. Find nearest car showroom and he would surely have autocop batteries with him. That guy correctly guided us on next road, telling there was a skoda showroom. Hopes came back, yet again we hurried towards that showroom and yet again he did not have autocop batteries. Well, actually the showroom had only one car on display as well and looked like a deserted place. Then we continued along the same road to find Chroma. This was another huge electronic and electrical items showroom. We rushed in and showed him the autocop device and asked for batteries. He said he has those batteries. Aaah... Relief atlast. We looked at each other and gave a sigh of relief praising the whole showroom. That guy came up within 2 mins with a round button batteries in his hand. I told him, these are not the batteries we are looking for. To show him the kind of batteries I was looking for, I did not have a screw-driver to open the autocop device and hence started explaining him. After explaining the whole structure of the batteries in my device, that guy just said "I am sorry sir. We do not have those batteries here."


We came out of that showroom, now cursing the showroom saying why do they have such a huge one if they cant keep such small batteries in their stock. Then couple of electronic shops we asked and the result was still negative. Finally I was thinking it would be still worth waiting for those 2 long minutes even if it means avoiding stares from passing people muttering angry curses at us. Then one last try, we saw a small watch repair shop who was sitting by footpath. As soon as I asked him about batteries, he said he will get it in 5 mins. He asked us to look after his small shop and went off to get batteries. Finally here we were, waiting for the 5 mins to get over soon and ticket to home sweet home. After around 25 mins of wait, we still did not see that person back. Now the wait got a little frustrating and with the heating sun above our head, it was not easy.


Couple of more minutes and we saw that guy running and coming towards us. He had probably realized by now that it was well over 5 mins which he had committed to us. But more than the time spent there, I was looking to hear those magic words "I GOT IT" which would mean we can be home in no time. Finally he came towards us, my fear increased and suddenly it happened. He took out those batteries from his pocket and said those magic words. Smiles all around. He charged us 100 bucks which I knew was lot more than the cost of batteries, but I was in no mood to argue since he had got us what others in big malls and showrooms could not. At this moment the batteries seemed to be priceless. We grabbed the autocop device now loaded with new batteries and hurried towards the mall parking lot. Once I saw my car, I proudly removed the autocop device in my hand and clicked the unlock. "Beep beep" car shouted, which meant that we can enter the car and drive out.


Feeling good of myself, we drove out directly to bus stand. Saw my mumbai cousin to her Mysore bus and came back to parking lot in bus stand. So excited I was on finding the new batteries, I clicked unlock twice. "Beep beep" - Car shouted twice. It was sweet to hear those beeps now and finally drove back to home to end yet another eventful day which cannot be forgotten.


Important lessons learnt. Eventough the batteries last for over a year, when it goes out, it does not even warn. So now I have spare batteries in my car dashboard box. Ofcourse I do have a spare screw-driver too...

[THE END]

Another eventful start for new year - 1 -

It seems to have become a habit now to have something eventful worth remembering for the new years. Well this time, unlike last year, not exactly on a first day of new year, but on first week of the new year.

Very much like last year, this time too we had planned for a movie(TRON 3D) to start new year with a bang. Some new entries to the family were available to join us for the movie. Me and my wife would be joined by my Bangalore cousin and his would be( Joining our baccha gang for first time ), then mumbai cousin who was doing her training at Infy Mysore and had been to Bangalore for weekend, and finally a special entry my Sirsi cousin who is yet another guy working at Infy. Finally we were six people altogether. Plan was to watch movie (morning show), and then me and my wife would drop my mumbai cousin to main bus stand from where she can go to Mysore, ofcourse after having lunch in that mall. My Bangalore cousin would take his would be and my Sirsi cousin to his place hence would not be joining us for lunch. So it was all set. Me, my wife, mumbai cousin and Sirsi cousin set out in my car towards the mall where we would be joined by my Bangalore cousin and his would be.

As usual for any movie, I did hurry up the folks to get ready soon and with no traffic on sunday early morning, we were at the mall 45 mins before show timings. I got the usual stares from my wife for getting there so early along with a stare from my mumbai cousin as well. I was spared from this stare from my Sirsi cousin since he was new to this role. I had to return back a short nervous smile to both ladies to cool them down. Finally my Bangalore cousin with his would be also arrived 15 mins before time and in next 15 mins we were inside theatre waiting for the movie to begin.

What followed for next 2 and half hours was amazing and due to 3D effect, it looked much better. With a great satisfaction of having watched a wonderful movie, we started moving towards our parking lot since my Sirsi cousin had to take his bag from my car and leave with Bangalore cousin. As soon as we reached my car, I took out my car key (Autocop) and clicked on the Unlock button. **Nothing happened**. I again clicked **Nothing yet**. Then I saw a small red light flashing on my autocop device. "Oh no, this cant be happening now" - I thought within myself realizing the problem. I knew immediately that my device had run out of batteries and by default it can only lock the car. If I use my normal key to unlock the car, then the autocop siren will shout loud. I could now sense the bewilderment on the faces of my cousins. I explained them the situation as not to worry, we have to just find a battery and replace in my device to get it working again. But internally I was wondering where the hell would I be able to find the battery now.


There were really two choices now. One - search for new batteries, two - just use the manual option to unlock and let the autocop shout. I knew it would shout for a period of exactly 2 or 3 minutes and then stop, but then that would be a very embarrassing situation for us. Those 2 mins span would be the longest I would have spent in my entire life. This was the time I requested my brain to think wisely and come up with a sensible solution, but it promptly rejected my request and started to go haywire. Spending those 2 long minutes did not seem to be a good idea now and hence I decided to go for option one which is to search for batteries. Before that, my Sirsi cousin's bag had to be removed from car. Due to the current circumstances, I came up with a master plan to get that bag out. It was on the front seat and I knew how to disable autocop for my boot door. I asked my mumbai cousin if she can climb from boot door into front seat and get the bag. She promptly agreed and then I disabled the boot door autocop, she did her best to get herself to the front seat and finally succeeded in getting the bag. Tough it looked like a very good master plan accomplished, a sensible decision would've been to just open door manually, take the bag out and close the door. The autocop would've shouted for few seconds anyway. My mumbai cousin did not have to go through the trouble of getting to front seat from boot door. But then master plans are always like that right...!!


Then my Bangalore cousin, his would be and Sirsi cousin went on their way. We had our own mission of finding the new batteries for my autocop device. We set out on our quest inside the mall but before that we had a main thing to accomplish. **LUNCH**. We were feeling very hungry, so I suggested we better have lunch first and then carry on with our quest.

To be continued... Click Here for the continuation.