Pain and the Gain – A chain reaction

Life is full of mysteries. As we reach the end of the maze the mysteries unfold. I have read several theories on cause and effect chain. But believed it only when I experienced it myself, but in a painful way.

Hmm….where to start???? hmm…wrrrrrrrrr….haan…. It was a saturday. From office, We had planned for a movie that night and the original plan of mine was to return to my Aunt’s home after the movie. But my friends asked me to stay @ their place that night and start by morning. Sunday morning there was an intra-Office, Inter team cricket match (KLEAN BOWLED) planned. Most of my friends know, what is my relation with cricket!!!! lolz.

I went to my friend’s room @ Saidapet after the movie. But that night, Guyz were planning on how to reach the ground the next day morning. They were short of one bike. They asked me if I can drop one of them. I agreed for the same. But told them, I will be leaving the ground immediately after dropping my friend, as I have to attend my Music class. They agreed for it.

The next day morning I woke up and told my friend, I have woke up on a fox face[Nari mogathula muzhichurukken]. As per plan we headed to the cricket ground in Meenambakkam. The intended plan was to drop my friend in the gate and then head for my class. But my friends forced me, if I can join the match. Obviously for witnessing the match as part of cheering group. I thought for a minute and then agreed to stay. There started the effect chain.

The match results were declared. I and my friend headed towards my bike. To my sadness, my bike’s rear wheel got punctured. I told for the first time to friend. Dude….”You are really a fox“. I inquired for the puncture shops nearby. I dragged my splendor+ for 200 mts and reached the automobile shop along with four other friends. The mechanic took 500 Rupees from me and left for buying tube. Meanwhile we headed towards a small tea shop nearby and then started having tea and biscuits. Prior to that, a small kid(around four years old) in the street dragged our attention. He took our bat and asked my friends to bowl. Then he started misusing the ball and the bat by throwing it on my friends. We then managed to hide the bat and the ball from him.

We also took this kid to the tea shop. The kid had no hesitations in taking what we offered him. Probably he knows the shop and the owner being a localite. we got him almost everything he pointed in the tea shop. We almost finished our breakfast there. The bill was around 200 rupees. This was the first time I think, I paid more than 100 rupees in a small tea shop for four of us. Normally the bill never exceeds 50 rupees. After an hour, the mechanic fixed the puncture and we drove towards Madipakkam for having breakfast. After having breakfast I headed towards my aunt’s home. That noon I had to attend a relatives marriage. Me and my cousin started from Adyar and headed towards Kovilambakkam[18 km from Adyar] in my bike. While returning from the marriage, I felt something is unusual in the bike. To my sadness, again there is no air in my bike’s rear wheel. I dragged the bike again for about a km to a mechanic shop and the mechanic told, it was just a problem with the pin on the tube’s mouth and there was a leak of air. He inflated my rear wheel again and then we started our way back to home.

In the evening, I felt like going for a swimming. I headed towards Anna University’s Swimming pool. Reaching near Anna university, again my bike’s rear wheel rim was creating some friction with the ground. Again I had to hunt for a puncture shop. Found a nearby road-side puncture shop with a manual air pump. After dismantling the tube, he told, there is a mold problem in the new tube installed. He told me, I can get a replacement without any additional charges from the shop I procured this tube. He then took 200 rupees more and then fixed an old tube. The old one already had bunch of patches. I asked him, if it would stand for couple of hours, till I reach Meenambakkam to get the replacement. He told, there is no guarantee for human life and you are asking for a tube. How can I give guarantee? I laughed at my fate and then proceeded towards Meenambakkam for the mechanic who bought this tube.

To my sadness, the mechanic shop was closed. The mechanic’s house was nearby and his father came out and asked me to come the next day for getting it replaced. I nodded and then went back to my friend’s place to get my bag back. I shared the whole story with them and then started from there. Few yards away from his house, again my rear wheel got punctured. I thought I would drag my bike for few more yards to find a puncture shop again. After an hour of my hunt in the locality, I found none of the shops were opened. I called my friend again and informed him about this. He asked me, how far I am from his house. Then as per my friend’s suggestion, I parked the vehicle near a closed puncture shop. I side locked it and headed towards my friend’s place again after giving my bike a nice kick on its back.

After reaching my friend’s place I realized my mobile got switched off as the battery charge had drained. As soon as I connected it to charger and switched it on, I got a call from my aunt and mom asking my whereabouts. I totally forgot to inform them about all these chaos and confusion. All they know was that I headed for swimming. They started fearing about me and had tried calling me from hours before. After getting a nice package of advise from them, I spent the night there at my friend’s place. The next day morning(Monday) around 7’o clock I headed towards the puncture shop where I had parked my vehicle the previous night. God’s grace, the bike was safe. I had to wait till 8’o clock for the owner to open the shop. I explained the whole incident to him and asked him to check what’s wrong with the rear wheel.

He told the old tube installed by the roadside guy was a weak one and had lot of leaks. I then asked him to dismantle the tube, tyre and the rim and asked him to do a thorough check. After removing couple of nails from the tyre and fixing something in the rim, he asked me whether to fix a local tube or a company one. I already had one company tube in hand which has to be replaced @ meenambakkam. Having this in mind I asked him to fix a local tube worth 200 rupees. Then I headed towards the office. During the lunch break I told my friend about the consequences for having commented him as fox. Then I headed towards Meenambakkam and got the tube replaced and now I have a spare one. At last the chain reaction came to an end.

Couple of days later I was just relaxing and just thinking about the pains I underwent for almost 2 days. Around 1000 rupees of money, 10-15 km of dragging/walk, 8-9 hours of waiting @ puncture shops, confusion and chaos @ my home as I didn’t contact them, so on and so forth. But suddenly a thought struck me. What about the gains? The tea shop owner had sales for 200 rupees on a Sunday morning. The mechanic shop owner, the hardware store guy, the road side puncture shop guy, the little kid enjoyed nice biscuits and tea, so on ad so forth. Life is a Maze. Some enjoy gains and some suffer pains. This is a intertwined mesh laid by god only time can reveal the pattern. I felt there is someone really out there creating this mesh patterns and we call him GOD 🙂