After battling the flood-like situation in Mumbai me and roommate experienced another unplanned quest. Like every day, we were lazing around in our room and discussing how each of us struggled to reach home the previous day battling the rain and the traffic.
To give you a heads-up, living in a PG teaches you to survive with unfixed things and make-shift furniture. So, we had our door lock unfixed since couple of months. We hardly faced any problem with that, as we don’t usually need to lock the room doors. But that night was so windy the closed just banged against the frame never to open, almost! The broken lock was jammed.
We tried all the possible tricks to open a jammed lock from a spoon and hair pin to oiling it. We even tried saying ‘khul ja sim sim’ in different tones but nothing worked. Finally, we called our broker/caretaker of the flat and much to our surprise he showed more concerned than we were expected from him. He sent us a number of a key maker and told us that he won’t answer any further calls till 11am next day. Without giving it a second thought, we dialed the key maker’s number and ‘sim sim’ didn’t work even there. No one answered our calls.
Both of us, slept-off! We didn’t have much to do anyway. Our other flat mates were out for the evening. But with the morning light our needs raised their heads too! We were feeling hungry, thirsty and tired. Really, it was a bit tiring to be locked up in our own room. At least, the helplessness was. Outside people tried to help by trying to pass some food packets under the door or the balcony. But no! we were destined to starve! The gap between the floor and the door was not enough to let anything come in, other than shadows and smell of yummy food. And the balcony has fine grill to keep away the birds and that day, the food as well!
Thankfully, my roommate is one of those people who stocks junk food! It looked like a treasure that day. We survived on chips and biscuits and peanuts for rest of the day.
Finally, a key maker answered our call and managed to reach the place, considering the difficult traffic conditions that day. The moment he managed to break the lock open, we ran out of the room like birds flying out of a cage!
That evening, we ate like never before! And, the importance of food was re-instilled in my mind.
Learning from the incidence? That sometimes no technology or help works. Sometimes you just have to wait for the right time.