Before you assume I am a Zany inventor of a mouse operated printer or a TC who managed to insert the mouse inside my precious laser printer, let me clarify..
A real mouse got into my printer!! A tiny mouse, which I would call cute if I wasn't Animal-phobic... My animal phobia encompasses all species of animals from rats to pigeons to dogs... I am just plain scared of them...
Anyway, back to the story of the printer....
I landed home yesterday.. and saw all things which used to lie about on the floor, propped up on stools. It wasn't a sudden cleaning spree, I was told, just a reaction to little mice, which were sharpening their teeth on our things.
There I digress again....
I woke up today, and switched on my computer and went off to brush my teeth... When I came back and logged on to Gtalk.. I heard thak-thak.. the sound that Yahoo Messenger makes when someone comes online... another thak-thak... and another one..
Subah Subah itne log online kyon hain.... its a Monday morning...
I know all of you have figured out that the mouse was knocking inside the printer, and all this build-up is wasteful...
So, I opened the printer cover.. and the tiny fellow peeped out... light brown, smaller in length than my little finger.I shut the cover again in horror, to collect all my courage to open it again and peep in.I had no option; it nibbled at something inside my mom's precious laser printer, my fear of the mouse won't count as a good enuff excuse...
The mouse had gone deep inside the printer, only its wagging tail was visible..
I made my next logical move... screamed at the top of my voice!!!! Our maid servan, Sarasa came to my rescue... You see, she knows my usual routine for animal emergencies, so her first question was.. "kahaan??"
By that time, I had pulled out the printer cords, and got as far away as I could from the printer and the mouse, and was standing up on my bed. Sarasa is usually very competent in such situations but she had never seen a printer before.
She lifted the printer and walked out, placing it on the floor outside the house entrance. As soon as someone takes charge, I get lots of courage. So I followed her.
Method 1: Cajole
We called to the Mouse in the printer, wishing all the while that it understands Hindi/Tamil, listens to us and gets out. Predictably, this method failed.
Method 2:Threaten
Sarasa decided to poke the mouse with a thin stick and coax it out. This only made the mouse search for and hide in unreachable depths inside the printer.
Method 3: Bait
I frantically searched the refrigerator for foods mouse would like. Only found a bowl of papaya. I reasoned, that I don't like papaya, so the mouse must love it. I placed a piece on the edge of the printer cover. I and Sarasa settled down, squatting on the floor near the printer, attracting weird looks from passersby. Unfortunately, mouse did not find the papaya too tempting, so it persisted in its hiding place.
Next food to be tried was Mysore Pak, which also met with the same result.
Method 4: Shake Out
One passerby now stopped and began to laugh at our futile exercises, and decided to help out. He took the printer and started shaking it vigorously, face down, so that the mouse would fall out. I was damn scared, for the mouse (my friend by now), and the printer.. because he was holding the printer outside the second floor lobby of my flat.
The mighty mouse clung to the printer and hung on, till this fellow gave up.
Lest more people stop by, and try crazy tricks, we carried the printer into the house.
Method 5:Let It Be
We kept the printer in the balcony, and placed the Mysore Pak there too. then we went about our work. About 10 minutes later, the mouse peeked out cautiously. And being satisfied, it ran out of the printer, and began to devour the Sweet. By the time we reached to pick up the printer, it ran into the printer again!!!
3 more trials of "let it be" were performed, and 3 more pieces of precious Mysore Pak were placed at increasing distances. Distance optimization had to be applied here. Too far away, the mouse would not be able to sniff it out. Too near, we would not have the time to decamp with the printer, on which the mouse had by now, laid an ownership claim.
Finally, 2 hours after the discovery of the mouse, it left its snug quarters and we restoed the printer to its rightful place, covering it with 3 layers of plastic.
Phew!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Baggage Trouble
As i stood waiting for my baggage near the conveyor belt at Delhi, and saw a torn and dirty bag passing by.... to my horror i realized it was my bag, mutilated beyond recognition!!
I hastily retrieved it from the belt, and got my hands full of oil and mustard in the process.Yes, I admit I was carrying a weird medley of things in that bag, but I have done it umpteen number of times, and escaped without accidents. Don't most of us have one sturdy bag which holds all the things dropped in last?
I went numb looking at what had happened, since the bag contained most new vessels, supplies, and clothes i had bought in Chennai. I looked around for someone who would give me an answer.. and spotted a customer services counter. I dumbly stood in the queue there, until someone behind the counter saw my distress and beckoned me forward.
I showed them the bag, and they reacted as if people come there everyday with bags they have torn. I felt that moment like a naughty child, caught in my act... but suddenly i realised that it was their fault, not mine.. for God's sake, I was inside the aircraft,after handing over to them a locked, zipped bag. Ironically, the lock and zip was intact, and I had to hunt for the keys, to assess the damage.
By this time, I was getting angry about my own stupidity.. and this anger returned me to the world where behind a counter stood incredulous, indifferent but polite men, waiting for me to say something.
I finally found my tongue and launched a harangue about their mishandling of my baggage. As I opened the bag, millions of mustard seeds rolled out, all over their counter, in a pool of ridiculous smelling hair oil. The oil was a present for some relative in Delhi, from some relative in Chennai... but presently, it was causing a sticky-smelly mess at the airport.
After then, it was routine boring task, of making a list of all damaged items, and totaling the financial loss. The stocktaking was greatly helped by the fact that all items were brand new with price tags intact.
The funny thing was, Indian Airlines people took half an hour to find me a plastic bag to put these things. For me, the best thing about shopping is the glossy, colorful bags that stuff comes in. So I had lots of carefully folded empty bags in my luggage. All these bags were pressed into service, with things sorted as oily, not oily,broken and beyond redemption.
After all the mess up, these guys cleaned up their act admirably, settling the compensation claim immediately, and in cash. They filled out the forms themselves for finishing these formalities.
After everything was done, I began to cry, tears coming unbidden as usual...
All the shopping was for my US Trip in august. I am going to set up a new home there, and I had bought cute vessels, nice clothes, even some groceries with the enthusiasm of a child buying coveted toys. I started feeling bad about the inauspicious beginning to a new, ambitious project.
What was this incident but an "Apshagun"?? As soon as that word clicked, Came images of ridiculous K-Serials, where apshaguns happen all the time.. Photo frames falling, bangles breaking and the works...
I smiled instinctively at my my own crazy line of K-thought, and then the mist of worry and sadness cleared up, and I began to feel upbeat at the prospect of getting back home after 2 weeks, and giving everyone the gifts I had bought for them, and kept safe in the other suitcase...
I hastily retrieved it from the belt, and got my hands full of oil and mustard in the process.Yes, I admit I was carrying a weird medley of things in that bag, but I have done it umpteen number of times, and escaped without accidents. Don't most of us have one sturdy bag which holds all the things dropped in last?
I went numb looking at what had happened, since the bag contained most new vessels, supplies, and clothes i had bought in Chennai. I looked around for someone who would give me an answer.. and spotted a customer services counter. I dumbly stood in the queue there, until someone behind the counter saw my distress and beckoned me forward.
I showed them the bag, and they reacted as if people come there everyday with bags they have torn. I felt that moment like a naughty child, caught in my act... but suddenly i realised that it was their fault, not mine.. for God's sake, I was inside the aircraft,after handing over to them a locked, zipped bag. Ironically, the lock and zip was intact, and I had to hunt for the keys, to assess the damage.
By this time, I was getting angry about my own stupidity.. and this anger returned me to the world where behind a counter stood incredulous, indifferent but polite men, waiting for me to say something.
I finally found my tongue and launched a harangue about their mishandling of my baggage. As I opened the bag, millions of mustard seeds rolled out, all over their counter, in a pool of ridiculous smelling hair oil. The oil was a present for some relative in Delhi, from some relative in Chennai... but presently, it was causing a sticky-smelly mess at the airport.
After then, it was routine boring task, of making a list of all damaged items, and totaling the financial loss. The stocktaking was greatly helped by the fact that all items were brand new with price tags intact.
The funny thing was, Indian Airlines people took half an hour to find me a plastic bag to put these things. For me, the best thing about shopping is the glossy, colorful bags that stuff comes in. So I had lots of carefully folded empty bags in my luggage. All these bags were pressed into service, with things sorted as oily, not oily,broken and beyond redemption.
After all the mess up, these guys cleaned up their act admirably, settling the compensation claim immediately, and in cash. They filled out the forms themselves for finishing these formalities.
After everything was done, I began to cry, tears coming unbidden as usual...
All the shopping was for my US Trip in august. I am going to set up a new home there, and I had bought cute vessels, nice clothes, even some groceries with the enthusiasm of a child buying coveted toys. I started feeling bad about the inauspicious beginning to a new, ambitious project.
What was this incident but an "Apshagun"?? As soon as that word clicked, Came images of ridiculous K-Serials, where apshaguns happen all the time.. Photo frames falling, bangles breaking and the works...
I smiled instinctively at my my own crazy line of K-thought, and then the mist of worry and sadness cleared up, and I began to feel upbeat at the prospect of getting back home after 2 weeks, and giving everyone the gifts I had bought for them, and kept safe in the other suitcase...
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