Stupid Sam - Know the difference?

"Five Pipty", he said, casually.

"Huh?" Sam did not catch that.

"Five hundred and pipty!", he repeated.

"Sorry?", Sam asked, a bit of alarm gripped his voice.

"Five pipty pa!"

"Engitta avalo cash illanga. Paathu pannungale", Sam replied. He was cautious about not conveying a casual tone.

(I don't have so much cash. Please cut down your demand.)

"Illa pa. Five pipty. Receipt vaangiko", he continued the usual act of I-will-not-budge.

(No. Five Fifty. You can take a receipt)

"Engitta nooru roopa thaan irukku. Enna pannalaam?", Sam insisted.

(I have only 100 bucks. What can we do?)

The guy insisted a couple more times and even pointed to an ATM nearby. When Sam did not show any sign of agreeing to pay more, he gave the situation a bit of serious thought and proposed a new deal. "300?"

Though stupid he was, Sam realized that his act was working. It was past 9 PM and he jsut wanted to get this done with. His mind worked out the math (luckily he was good at it) in a whoosh and spoke slowly, "Engitta avalo illanga. Oru 150 try pannalaam." (I don't have so much. I can try gathering around 150 bucks).

The guy sighed. It was getting late for him as well. He wanted more money to put up his booze party for the night and at the same time did not want to lose the customer.

"200. Final.", he said and walked away to find one more person to make up for the difference.

At this point, Sam knew what had to be done. He quickly asked his colleague for any change she had. She looked through her purse and handed him two ten rupee notes and a ragged five rupee note. He took the notes and put together the bits and pieces from his purse. He rushed to the guy, handed him the currencies and grunted, "Ellathayum vazhichu 125 irukku" (after cleaning up my purse here is 125 bucks).

The guy accepted it with gratitude and quickly slipped the notes into his pocket, so that his superior did not notice the little business deal he made for himself. Sam went back to his bike and shushed his colleague to quickly get on. They left the place in no time.

On the ride back home, Sam couldn't but wonder at the fact that the differences between tourist spot vendors and traffic policemen were gradually decreasing.

Escape

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 10; the tenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I was ignorant about the concept of the earth spinning around an axis. I was five years old. Anything that went circling used to get me to my nerves easily. For instance, the ceiling fan was my biggest nightmare if I woke up in the middle of the night. This supports the fact that I've never sat on any of the rides @ Exhibitions/Theme Parks or wherever. From the giant wheel to a simple Merry-Go-Around horse ride, everything had a phobia effect on me.

It was during those phobia days....

My mom, my sister, Murthy Uncle, Rajeev anna, Bhagyam Aunty and a few unknown relatives were standing around us. Rahul and me waved at them once, twice, thrice and every time we came near them, and moved away. We waved till our necks could twist and then turned away. BAM! They came into view again.

We were on a Merry-go-Around Swan Water ride for the age-group 3-5 years in SL World, Bombay (back then). I was proud to have overcome my fears and sat on this ride. I must confess that I sat on it only after I was assured that it goes around at a speed much less compared to how fast they push the Merry-go-Round @ School.

The ride went on for sometime with an occasional elevation of the compartment we were seated. I started looking into the water and it was such a treat. I was having a great time watching the patterns of ripples forming. Gradually, the ride came to a halt and the kids started getting down, one compartment at a time.

For a kid who had so many phobias, I was not the kind who was subtle. I had the mix of a criminal mastermind as well. So went my thoughts, "How nice it would be to step into the water? Chiju! This would be the best moment to do it". And I did it. When the turn came, Rahul did a good boy of holding the hand of the guy who was getting us out and stepped out. I casually put my leg on the other side and stepped into the water. Everything went fuzzy in the next few seconds.

What was I thinking? I'm gonna walk on water, or its not gonna be deep enough or I'm a child prodigy and have won Gold for swimming in the last Olympics. The truth is, I wasn't thinking at all. I just wanted to do it and went ahead.

There were shouts of surprise, fright and terror outside. As I started drowning I could hear all the voices that said "Chiju", "No", "Aiyaayo" etc. However, they became muffled sounds in a few seconds and I started struggling to come up. I'm sure some would have thought, "That's it!"

Then, the Hero (someone who worked there) jumped into the water. and got me out as if I was a tennis ball in a bucket of water. I hadn't passed out or anything. Though I did a lot of puking and had to go all the way home feeing sick. This is the story of My Escape! :P

The best part was when, one grandma came and asked me, "Indha pakkum kaala vekkarathukku, Andha pakkam vechutiya da kanna?" (You stepped on the water instead of stepping on the land by mistake right?) and I nodded as if I knew nothing! :)

PS:

1) Finally, Century! :) Dear Readers and Commentators - Thanks a lot. You people are the best! Keep Visiting. Keep Motivating. An I'll keep writing crap! :P

2) I wanted to write a Coimbatore Era - Part III for my 100th post. But, I had to escape. :P Sometime later.

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