18 May 2014

Meter the heater



It was just a normal saturday, I attended a "Write club" meet up and was headed to meet Satana Infernous 90km away. The train journey was normal for the first 100min or so. Eating grapes, drinking buttermilk and chatting with a new-found auntie.

But then at around 2000hrs I took my cell-phone out. It came out of my pocket and went out of the window. In a split second all these things flashed in my complicated brain:
1. What about the contact details?
2. What about the lengthy procedure in getting the replacement SIM for the special number?
3. What about the pictures, songs etc. in the memory card?
4. What is the cost of a brand new cell-phone?
5. What is happening?

While I was thinking all this, I stood up by reflex action and also a made a mental note of the landmark, a railway pole. Yeah Satan Infernous hardly panics in emergencies and contingencies. I rushed to the door. The auntie shouted "Don't get down!". I had the resolve to jump into the partial darkness of the jungle. The determination was to get back the phone, added by the silver lining that the train was travelling at 10kmph, and that I could see the small-station about 2km away. The man sitting at the door took his own sweet time to get up and added himself to the chorus "Don't get down!". The human brain is an amazing organ. It could be your best friend or the worst enemy. In this case, the former was true, as my mind started counting the seconds passed automatically. It was about 20s when I got down. I estimated that my phone fell down about 40-70feet back. I started walking back & tried to search for it, but in vain. There was silence everywhere. I could hear a dog bark faar away.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel. It was literally a light, from somebody's farmhouse. I started walking in moonlit darkness. It was more like the video games where the character walks in the forest. I was walking across some tall plants and came upto the farmhouse. Pretty brave, Huh? Only to get scared by a dog which got up & barked! I explained to those people about my story.
Villager1: Didn't you get scared?
Satan: No, Big deal!
Villager2: You city people are not so brave
Satan: The worst thing that could happen is to die, and I'm not afraid of death!

We started our mission of finding the cellphone. We couldn't reach my number as the phone got dismantled (battery separated from main body). After combing the area for for about half an hour we found the main body of cellphone. There were more cracks than the no. of contacts on the front panel. Another 10min of searching yielded us with the battery. I didn't want to waste more time in finding the back cover. The Villager2 dropped off to the bus stand. I paid him 500bucks as a 'reward'

Epilogue:
When I met the villagers, they were delighted to see me that I wasn't afraid. I explained this to them: 

"Fear. An important psychological emotion. It has changed a lot these days. In olden times, one was afraid of being killed by a wild animal or the enemy. Today the nature of fear has changed. Fear is that feeling when you get that you don't have a 52inch LED TV at your home. Fear is not giving your guests ice-cream and snacks when they come into the house. Fear is when a college boy doesn't have a girlfriend. Fear has become more subtle and stealthy. It is this fear that the advertising industry uses!"