On Friday, I was in office till 10:30 in the night. That day was too dull, except for the mail from Aakash about his new webpage. And I got a pointer to my blog too - from the Servers of Stanford! Thanks for that Aakash! (Look around people: I have also updated my links list.)
Went Home on Saturday morning, nourished myself with good food and fruits,and returned to Chennai early on Sunday. Well, had some work, which I left halfway on Friday. Completed it by 7:00pm and went home. Senthil was also back from Pondicherry by then. We decided to go for dinner (I worked hard that day, skipping my lunch too!!).And this is where the drama starts..
Dressed up and went out of the door, while Senthil picked up the lock and the chain and locked the door. By some instinct (late by a few seconds though!) he asked me if I had the key. (The lock is the type which can be locked without the key: sure, you need the key to open!) You must note it was him who opened the door in the first place. Very smartly, he took the key off the lock and kept it safe in his room. (Responsibility, very often, pops up only when it is meant to bring some trouble :-| ) I thought it was a prank but decided against when he started laughing aloud. Then I joined him, imagining how we would be spending that night, until Sam or Ganesh get the key next day morning. We called up Sam and Magesh and pleaded them to take a bus to Chennai and come over immediately. Their reply was straight- ’Its too late to stat now'.
It's fate, I thought, that we have to spend the night on open terrace, that too when the rain clouds were in the brink of tearing out to heavy downpour. Fine, so be it. But, anything after the dinner. So we went to the nearby hotel. We were about to finish our dinner even as Senthil received a call from Sam, and he was full of cheers after the talk. Told me a big comedy is on. I couldn't guess.. Then he said:’ All the four keys for our house are inside. No one took the keys when they left and we have locked them in now'.
Sam suggested that we go around and see if we could find someone who breaks locks and get him done the job. Imagine, two people going around every cycle repair shop or welding house, asking if they could break a house' lock, that too at 9:00 in the night. That's an easy way to find yourself locked up in the local prison for attempt of theft. Desperate, with no other choice, we tried that option too. Suspicious looks greeted us everywhere.
Breaking the lock- It wouldn't work out. Moreover, it would cause unnecessary trouble to other people in the night. So we thought we'll try hacking off the lock. Went straight to a electrical hardware shop, got half a dozen Hacksaw along with the metal handle. We weren't sure if five or six hacksaws would be enough. Locks are made of hardened steel, I've heard, and this one was a Chinese make, considered to still harder.
I was pretty confidant that we would be cutting it all through the night, till others also join us in the morning. Its not that easy man! We have done this kind of job during the first year of engineering in the Mechanical Engg. Workshop! On top of it, I was damn tired. But what the heck, it has to done at least by sunrise. you cannot even yield to your micturition reflex, leave alone going to office the next day.
Reached home. Kept away my watch, mobile and specs and got ready for work. I was still very sure this was not gonna work out. But then, nothing wrong in trying... Senthil holding the lock in position, I started cutting the lock rod. To my great surprise, the hacksaw was sinking into the rod as if it were a wooden stick. And the whole 'operation' took just couple of minutes. I did not know if the saw was so good or the lock was that bad, but it definitely spoiled the thrill. We stepped in as nothing happened. In fact, Sai, who came home after half-an-hour or so, did not believe that what had happened, had happened, until we showed him the severed lock. That was the story of the weekend, for all of you.
Do you know what I was into today morning? Searching for Ash's pics over net. Why? My lead wanted the splash screen of the module we're developing to have Ash's eyes featured as the background. And he was adamant in it. Spent around an hour admiring the beauty of the green-eyed angel. Now, that's what I call an interesting work!
