Locked Out of My Own House!!!

Yesterday was the day of miseries. The past few days had been so good, maybe it was god’s way of reminding that happiness does not last for ever.

I had just returned from the trip to my alma mater as well my home. The trip to Manipal was great fun. Met a lot of my batchmates and teachers, visited all the important places in Manipal, had food in all the good locations, and talked a lot. After that I spent 2 days at home eating, sleeping, watching TV, working on my computer and persuading mom to postpone her search for her future daughter-in-law.

After that amazing trip, I landed back in Chennai yesterday morning. I had no clue about the disaster that was about to strike me in the evening.

At around 3pm it started raining cats and dogs. It looked as if the rain gods were extremely pleased with Chennaites, there was so much water falling everywhere and soon the roads in front of my office were flooded.

The rain finally let up at 7pm, and I decided to go home. I started my bike and proceeded in the usual route. Within minutes I realized that I had made a mistake. The water level in the road was constantly rising, and by the time I realized it and stopped the bike, I was in knee deep water.

Now there was the scare of water entering the silencer, but since the silencer of a Pulsar is angled upwards, I was a bit assured. Nevertheless I never let my hand off the accelerator, always pumping air out of the silencer, so that water did not stand a chance to enter it. I could not turn back and go in a better way, as turning my bike in a semi-tarred road knee deep in water did not look promising to me.

So I continued, and came out of the artificial lake in 10 minutes. I thanked god for keeping me out of troubles and headed home. It was drizzling and when I reached home and tried to open the door, I knew I had thanked god a bit early.

The handle of the Godrej lock in the front door was jammed. So there I was standing in front of my house, clothes drenched from the rain, shoes full of water since I drove through the knee deep water, unable to open the door of my house and get into the safety and warmth of my room.

The time was 8pm and a search for carpenters or locksmiths to open the door was not successful. In the meantime, I tried to force the door open, by applying force on the handle, but gave up when the handle started showing signs of giving away under pressure.

Time was ticking fast and I could not see any way of getting into my house. At 9pm, with nowhere to go or no one to approach, I went to the nearest electrical shop. Told him my woes and asked him to help. Initially he told me to contact someone else and told me that electricians do not break open doors, but I persisted. I told him that I had tried everything and I could not get into my house, I added that you are the last option I have and begged him to help me out.

May be the begging did the trick, and he sent his electrician to help me out.

The electrician, after working for 25 minutes on the lock, after having defaced it, succeeded in opening the door. The relief of getting into the house, coupled with the fact that I need not have spent the night in someone else’s house was heartwarming.

I changed the wet clothes and took a well deserved bath.