Sunday, May 31, 2009

Mechatronics

Some feeble sound disturbed his deep sleep…..the same irritating “beep beep… beep beep...”.  He woke up…it was 5:30 in the morning. His legs were still aching. They were traveling non stop for 2 days now without proper rest. It involved a lot of walking too. He tried to wake up his wife…. “shut off that irritating sound and sleep…. I think u are not human… who will think of waking up this early after traveling so much….”  And she went back to sleep. “Mechanical alarm clocks are so sweet to hear…. Its only with these electronic stuff we get irritated…” he said with a grin on his face…. His wife looked at him with “that” pissed off look on her face…He didn’t want to get beaten up early in the morning. So thought its better he leaves the scene. He went out of the hotel and into the park with a mug of coffee and a cigarette…. Sun was rising…. What a sight it was…. Snow clad mountains and a lush green park in front….what a way to start the day….

 

They were done with the packing. Bread, juice, umbrella… the list goes on. After checking everything for the umpteenth time his wife pronounced them good to go. He said… “if it were to be me alone it would have been just a water bottle, some biscuits, a camera and a couple of cigarette packs…. Look at this big bag we ( I ) have to carry now!.... haven’t you studied anything about efficient ways of getting things done?!.... we Mech guys are so smart like that”. His wife said “shut up and get going…. Don’t delay by talking bullshit again now….I don’t want to run to catch that stupid train again…theres always a limit to being punctual… likewise our railways are better…. They always have 5 minutes for passengers arriving late”…..

They locked the door, handed over the keys at the reception and walked out of the hotel into a pollution free world. It was their 3rd day in Swiss and every moment was eventful. Today the plan was to go to a mountain and they had to take a cable car to go to the top of it. They boarded the train. He was all excited as he had never done this before. Wife was all consumed in the views of mountains and the surrounding greenery and went on showing off her photography skills all along the way.

They reached the next destination where they were supposed to buy tickets for the cable car. Till now all he used to do in situations like these was to hand over some cash to his wife and the rest was done. Till she came back he used to quickly enjoy a cigarette. So as usual even this time he gave her his wallet and took out a stick. He was about to light when she sad…” I think u are smoking too much nowadays. You go buy tickets this time and I will be back in a while… the shop ahead has some nice handbags…. And let me keep ur cigarettes till I come back.”….. hmmpff….smart… but not enuf to beat him…..a Mechanical engineer he is. He took out one more pack…. Lit one and went ahead to buy tickets……

“wohin..??”…asked the lady at the desk by fanning the air around her nose….He realized his wife was right. His breath was stinking after he had smoked. Since he came onsite he was smoking a bit too much. “Nach Titlis….. zwei personnen….und wir haben die Swiss pass”….some broken German since she could not understand English. He showed her the passes, collected the tickets and left the counter. He heard some loud conversations as soon as he left the counter, of course it was in German and as usual he didn’t bothered much …..

“I hope u have got the proper tickets…”….. his wife said tauntingly after she realized that he had smoked. “Baby!....we Mech guys are programmed to do things right….we are real world people….we don’t work in cyber space….just follow me…” ….. she got terribly irritated… threw the cigarette pack that she had snatched from him at his face and started walking…..how he loved doing this….  ;)…..

Beautiful landscape… snow, mountains, green everywhere around…..reached the cable car place… took a nice ride to the top. “see… no computers in these…. All mechanical stuff….. no electronics to confuse and malfunction… just clean visible technology…”…. Wife ignored him and went on with her photography. He had a weird grin on his face which irritated her even more and made her look elsewhere. He enjoyed the view around humming a song.... "bahut pyaar kartein hain...tum ko sanam......"

They reached the top… wow!!... what a view….alps, alps and alps all around….covered by snow….. a rare sight for people like them…. for it doesn’t snow in tropical weather. His wife was calmed down a bit by the beautiful scenery around. He decided not to irritate her again… at least not today. His wife was clicking as if there was no tomorrow with his camera and he loved his camera very much. He didn’t want her to chuck it at his face…. For it was not a cigarette pack. After getting done with everything they started on their way back. Cable car again…. He opened his mouth to say something…suddenly she said….”yea yea… I know…. No computers in these…..”...ok…. he has become too predictable or his wife has understood him too very well….

They reached the same railway station where they had bought the tickets to the cable car…. He saw the same lady behind the counter…. He went to her and enquired a bit about their next journey…. Turned around and went ahead to light a cigarette….. again he heard that lady talking to someone loudly in German….. probably she might have got way too irritated by the smell of cigarette reeking out of him…..He wondered how his wife puts up with him with all these…..that too all day long!.....and now for her entire life to come.... 

They boarded their next train. The train started and they immediately slept off, for they were too tired roaming around walking. 

In his sleep, he was dreaming of someone poking his shoulders with a sharp object, a pen might be. “hellooo…….helllllloooooooo…”… these recorded electronic alarms nowadays have gotten so irritating….  he opened his eyes to shut it off and go to sleep again…. Saw someone in uniform standing in front of him….. “auswisen bitte…” asked the visibly irritated man.  Probably the officer, a ticket examiner, had tried waking him up for a bit too long now. He opened the travel pouch and God damn it!!!.... no passes there!!!!!.... He waked up his wife and asked her…. No use… even she didn’t knew….He was sweating all over… He just imagined the amount of fine they ( He) would have to pay…..He requested the officer to give him some time so that he can properly search the bags…. The officer, irritated again, agreed hesitantly and left the scene. He wiped out the sweat trickling down from his forehead and asked his wife if she remembered anything at all about the passes. “I remember a Mechanical engineer went out to buy the tickets with those passes in the morning” came the reply. It was like someone has hit him with a frying pan on his face. Shit!......He thought about the fine amount and started sweating again….. wife said she has to use the wash room to get her hair done and left. Look at her!!... here he is sitting in he middle of no where thinking what to do for tickets and she’s worried about her hair do!.... He looked out of the window. Suddenly all the so far beautiful mountains started looking like just heaps of rocks…. How situations influence our perceptions!.....

Wife came back with a satisfied look on her face of having done something really great. She was all smiles and humming a song...."antintha heNNu naanalla.....nannantha heNNu yaaroo illa.." . He got terribly irritated but kept mum. She saw that and started humming even more loudly. He went to the wash room…. Splashed some water onto the face… and went to the officer to tell him that he has lost the passes and will pay the penalty for traveling without them. The officer saw him and said something in German which again he understood very less. He told the officer that he has lost his passes and will pay the penalty. The officer said something again in German and was pointing at someone standing right behind. He didn’t even bother to turn around and see who was that. “Ich versteht nur etwas Deutsch… bitte sprcen Sie aus English”….. Right then…he heard a loud laughter behind him…. Even the officer started giggling. He turned around to see his wife rolling over the floor and laughing. The officer patted on his back and left. It didn’t take him much time to realize what had happened and was getting prepared for the worst. And then it came… “Your Mechanical engineering is getting obsolete…. Its electronics and software which controls most of the machines now…. At least stop doing it from now on”.

He had forgot the passes at the ticket counter where He had bought the tickets for cable car ride. That lady at the counter had called him to collect them but he didn’t understood and had ignored. His wife, probably plotting a revenge since God knows when, had collected the passes from that lady but didn’t tell him about that. As I said earlier, by then, probably she would have guessed how the scene will be, for he had become so predictable for her….

And since then… its Mechatronics in his life. A new technology for both of them….. J


6 comments:

Madhukar Hebbar said...

ha ha ha :-)

good entertaining story to start the day mate :-)

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

:-) Enjoy maadi

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

So derived meaning from article is
SLUM= Sexy looking Ultimate Morons???

Critic said...

haha..amazing narration dude
But you are right. Mechanical devices are far better than funny electronics. :-)
What a song for the sequence? anthintha hennu nanalla..
Did you really forget the tickets? LOL..How could you dude?

Gulmohar said...

Nice one Mayt!
Nevertheless, I still put my money on Mech Morons:)Ofcourse, u're an exception:))

Sudhi said...

hmm............. :)