Thursday, January 20, 2011

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]

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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.