#04 - Key of Misfortune

Holiday beckons to a new place, a new town. Being in Pondicherry for a much-awaited holiday was the right physical disposition for continuous excitement. The very fact that I was off work, fueled my happy mind with good thoughts. And to augment this were a bunch of charged up children around me.

The family toured around the quaint little town which once in its glory was a full French Colony. I groped around in failed attempts to peep into the past glory. May be the anxiety of bring free from the hustle and bustle of a crazy city got my mind twitching in laziness. As the evening set, plans for dinner roared in every conversation. With a few places shortlisted, we drove in my brother-in-law Arun’s car to ‘check them out’.

I was off the wheels and relaxed. These are the few precious moments when you sit back and not worry about the approaching traffic or the impatient bike riders in their best attempts to fit in next to your car. But occasionally my driver's reflexes got the better of me compelling me to press my feet hard again the ground in anticipation of a speed breaker. Aha! It took me a while to reset my mind with polite words – ‘dear, you are not driving, just relax.”

The family finally settled in a small yet crowded restaurant which was more of a café by its décor. The open oven seemed to be in full gusto, churning out pizzas back to back. Lovely food and drinks ended the merriment. None of us had the clue that all that went well need not end well.

While I assembled myself together with my belongings to move out of the restaurant, something was missing! My car keys! I searched around only to tell myself that I might have left it in the hotel room. While in Arun’s car, I made a few futile attempts to pad my pockets again and look around in the car for the keys. Once back at the hotel, I saw my car parked on the road side – perhaps getting some rest after the tiring 390 kms drive from Bangalore.

Worry engulfed me when I did not find my car keys in the place I kept it in the hotel room. The search began with all family joining in to my rescue. An hour passed and I racked my brains had to trace back every hour to when I last handled the keys. Pressure was mounting from all sides to “think where I might have left the bunch”. Our search team split into three – One searched our room, while the other searched my sisters room. The third however ventured around the hotel had the key bunch fallen off on the road. All convened in 45 minutes with no sign of any happy face. There was no inch of land in and around the hotel which was not scanned. With my wife making gradual moves on my nerves, I started losing the battle in my mind. But Mr Ego was adamant not to accept the “careless” branding.

At midnight we made a desperate foray to travel back the same roads between the restaurants we had been. Luck seemed to be in its midnight slumber and keeping us on our toes awaiting an exclamation after a 'great find”'. By the time we reached the dinner place, it had already drawn its shutters. My wife was gripped by helplessness which even made her hold on to the last few straws on the internet. Flash updates on Whatsapp groups and Facebook brought in some genuine online folks who offered few remote solutions.

My disgruntled soul retired to bed only to a disturbed sleep attempting to think of the exact drop time/place. The action around and within was too much for a sleep and thus the night passed in tosses and turns. To add to our woes was Sunday. Yet the Hyundai rescue personnel assured us help but at a visiting cost of Rs 350. There was only one person who could be our saviour! Yes God indeed. And so we rushed to church for a quick prayer. “Jesus give dada’s car keys.” said aloud my 1.9 year old son who ran to the alter with stretched hands and what was definitely sheer innocence.

Gloom had enveloped me in a tense binding. Back at the hotel the Hyundai handyman got ready with his tools to break up the car door and begin his mission. A minute and he would have started that my wife told me to give a blind try by calling the restaurant where we had our last happy time. Will this be the last nail on my coffin? Signaling the mechanic to wait, I made a fast move on the mobile phone buttons. Two sentences down my conversation with the restaurant staff, the voice changed to a woman whose English was music to my ears. In a clear tone, I heard her affirm, “yes, we found a car key with a key chain that has a red cross!”

The news caught me in a stupefying chill. A sigh of relief followed. The rest of the holiday went smooth with numerous references of my harrowing mishap.

#03 - The Killer Selfie!

Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, and George Harrison - all of these were artists had one thing in common – self-portraits. Demystify it to the current trend – yes it’s a selfie!  Featuring oneself as a subject gives a self-esteem boost and if overdone results in what the American Psychiatric Association names 'selfitis'. The association last June classified taking selfies as a mental disorder. This month the talk in my circles has been selfies. Clicking selfies has become a science with defined do’s and don’ts and good selfies and bad ones! While selfie mania has led to mental disorders and even death!

Have you head of this 24-year-old hyderabadi Bhanu Prakash Racha, who quit his job as a research assistant at a hospital only for selfie practice? The lad wants to challenge NFL star Patrick Peterson's Guinness World record of 1,449 selfies in an hour. Racha aims at 1,800!

Overriding the repercussions millennials make news with selfies gone wrong. Fatalities trigged by selfies are rising. The last being the two HSC students, who went to a reservoir in Nashik drowned in the waters, while taking a selfie. Few weeks ago a 16-year-old student died while trying to take a selfie with a speeding train in the background just outside Chennai.

Selfies on high points, with animals, before speeding trains and water bodies are all open invitations for trouble. Duck faces and puts have been illogically added to a good selfie. Many selfie experts ask for a turtle neck and with messy hair while the real tacky ones are selfies before bathroom mirrors.

Here are some tips

Selfie in water takes your focus off balance!

Selfie on high buildings, it will end in a fall

Selfie with animals, you never know if the creature behind likes it or not

Selfie on railway tracks, it’s not funny at all

Selfie with weapons, it’s a killer pair. Never try it ever.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi loves selfies.

#02 - The balance that never was even

Its spoken about in length and breadth by those who have maids for their chores and chauffeurs for their cars. Those who can effort it attempt to place themselves in an envious spot before the world. Yet the bourgeois cannot escape this fastidious virtue but live with honest denial. I speak of that dandy called work-life balance!

At every talk or workshop I attend on work-life balance, I am outfoxed by the bookish examples of an coveted ‘perfectly balanced life’. This follows wise words of advice and health warnings. Unfortunately, the labyrinth presents itself on a Monday evening when the balancing act has just called it quits.

In my profession as a journalist, work-life balance ceased to exist until that normal day when I met a senior reporter. From his stretched-out life, he pulled one sad leaf narrating his yearning to see his little children. Living under the same roof, he would not be able to see them for weeks together. “When I return from my shift the kids are in bed and when my working day begins they would be in school,” his tone dropped a few decibels. The line that followed knocked me off. He said “I am that unfortunate father who chose career over the joy of seeing my child grow.”

Many months of pondering followed my formal exit from the media world. If you think that's a happy ending to the story, let me telling you its 12.45 midnight and this editor in an IT company has a customer-facing newsletter awaiting his proof reading eyes!

#01 - Had he...

All was well in life. A new job that kept him excited and got him a step closer to an onsite opportunity, a girl friend who made life feel blissful. And lo! the bubble just burst when at dawn his dreams crashed with a road accident. The dead end was close, but for some noble souls whose timely help got him the immediate medical help. A major head injury and a fractured leg became the deadly combination taking him into a coma. 

What went wrong? Death would have been worst but he survived. Seeing this 28 year old friend of mine triggers anger against him and all those youngsters who think a headgear is not required. Had he worn a helmet, had he!

The cursed white turban on the heads of the long line of patients at Nimhans Hospital was enough a sight pealing to me “had they”. "90% of the head injuries brought here could have been avoided with a helmet," said a doctor there. His disappointed smirk follows a concealed warning "People who visit this place never forget to wear a helmet!"

Still scenes from my class mate Alex’s tragic death recall in my head in constant loops. Just two blocks away from his house, he met his end – Had he!

My young friend is still in coma. Did he learn his lesson, perhaps not. He might never recover to learn it. Will you?

Even an alien knew its value!

An Accounted Stunt - The 120-day blogathon flames up

I am all set for an 'accounted' stunt - a dash of ideas written! Yes, its a 120-day blogathon (blogging marathon). The tenacious hold has led me into a writing spree that is likely to fetch some heavy-duty lines. It was Ray Bradbury who said you fail only if you stop writing and I am hard-it by it. But like how a stitch in time saves nine, I am back to my words. Wish me luck in as many ways possible. I need them all.