Carjack!!

It was 11.00pm, and I had just seen my mom onto her bangalore bus at the T. Nagar KPN office. I start walking back to the car i suddenly realize that i don't have the keys. Just my luck, it was locked in... After persuading my mom not to get off the bus, i took stock of my situation. I'm alone in the middle of T. Nagar, the kpn office is closing, and there appear to be no shops as far as the eye can see, and even the ones out of sight would most likely have closed. Now if it wasn't for the empty roads and few street lights, i might have tried looking around for something with which to open the door, an equivalent of a steel scale (that invaluable tool of the accomplished carjacker). Instead, i decided it was safer just to take an auto home and come back with the spare keys. Well a moment's thought put THAT out of the question. Not only because of the long trip home and back at that time of the night, but also because the other set of keys was, in fact, on it's way to bangalore on an air-conditioned volvo bus. Oh well, if the fates were conspiring against me, i might as well give up for now and call hyundai in the morning. But of course, it's never that simple. A quick check revealed that i was, if not completely broke, very nearly so... The only good thing was that it induced a mild panic which help me overcome my inhibitions enough to ask the watchman of the building nearby for a scale. With the scale in my hand, i made short work of the lock. And yet, as i fiddling with the lock, it occurred to me that the keys might not be in that car after all. It was just as probable that i'd dropped it on the road. I quickly damped down that thought!! Thankfully, it all went well after that, and i drove away from a most amused watchman.

I am now in considerable nervousness because these things normally happen in threes (so they say) and just yesterday i'd gone to the beach with my scooty keys in my pocket, started chatting with some people, walked all the way home and then realised that i didn't have the keys... Naturally, i had lost the other set a year ago... So the TVS guy came the next day and changed the entire lock set... Another incident like that and my car privileges might well be suspended(shudder!!)

Oh well, at least i'd had my quota of excitement for the week... And since this was the second time getting past the lock, i didn't feel quite so conspicuous with the scale in my hand, going at the door. The first time it happened, in besant nagar, my mother was (again) out of town. So having locked the keys inside, i proceed to panic with wholeheartedness. My mom's first insturction was to abandon the car and head for my chitti's house as "it was getting late", and that "it wasn't safe". At 8.30pm, in besant nagar... fat chance i wa going to embarrass myself unecessarily... On calling Hyundai emergency services, the dude(and very decent of him at that) informed me that it would cost me 300 bucks for them to come all the way and open the door. What i ought to do instead, was to buy a scale and open the door myself in the manner instructed... Ok, sounded simple enough... So i crossed the road and walked into maharaja. But no, no long scales available. Ok, next shop. Sorry, out of stock. And so on, and so on, and so on, till i reached the end of the road. Words and worth, bless their hearts, had some. So i picked one out, smiled at the shopkeeper(after 12 years, he knew me pretty well. In this case, unfortunate), muttered something about the weather, and headed for the car as fast as i could... I stuck it in between the window and the door, and poked around trying to hit the lock... My dad was talking me through it, this being my first car crisis and all. "Put the scale in, and slowly poke around till you hear the click. Now just remember not to let the scale slip and fall in..." How incredibly ironic that at exactly that instant, the scale should slip from my hand and fall INTO THE DOOR!!! Aaaaaargh!!!

Sigh. Back to the shop for another scale. So i walked in again and picked up another scale. The shopkeeper (never said anything of course), looked mildly curious. So while my ears turned a bright red, i mumbled, "oh yeah, my mom wanted two of them and forgot to tell me. What to do..." Add with a sheepish grin i rushed out again. THIS time i made sure i had a good grip on it(in any case, i'd rather have slept on the road rather than go in and buy another scale). Eventually i got it open and made it back home. Phew! First crisis passed.

A few weeks had passed and I had all but forgotten about this little incident, when it was brought to my notice again. The car had been handed in for routine servicing and when returned, it was normal practice for them to hand over the replaced parts in a bag(to prove they had indeed replaced them, i suppose). Anyway, the service guy handed me a bag and then, with a puzzled look on his face, handed me a steel scale which he said they had heard rattling around in the door, and would i know how it came to end up there. Trying not to look too conspicuously embarrassed, i grabbed it and sent him off without a reply. The scales now reside in the car as a part of the tool kit... It only occurred to me during the second crisis(if i may refer to it as such) that there's a slight flaw in that. The scales, being in the car, are of absolutely no help in a crisis. In fact, they only remain to remind me of the number of times we have been locked out of the car and have had to buy yet another one, notches on the bedpost one might even say... :)

Oh well, i rest comfortably in the knowledge that as long as there are chores to be done, i will never be banned from using the car. A comforting thought while i drop my sister at her class for the umpteenth time... :|