As Raghu came out of the doc’s room, his wife hurried up.
“C’mmon quick.. We are getting late for the TV serial” -she said. “If you are alert, we can catch it at the start itself”
“But we have started late. Everything has gone on late. Now you are pressurizing me” – Raghu said “It is your mistake”.
“Ok.. It is my mistake. It is not a crime. And we can still catch up with it”- said his wife. As usual, she always had the last answer. Raghu applied his mind on finding his quovadis chappals.
The place had little light. This’s the place upto which patients are allowed to have their chappals. So many chappals and shoes were strewn all over the place. Raghu was trying to locate his quo-vadis pair amongst the heap.
There it was. One chappal turned upside down. Another one at the bottom. Raghu's wife had located hers at the other corner. In fact they had kept their chappals togther. But somehow they have got separated.
Raghu tried to enter his feet into the chappals. His wife was already on the street. “Quick pa’’ –she said “How much time to wear a chappal. The serial will start in another few minutes”
Raghu ran out with half-worn chappals.
Where is my chappal..? - Ram came inside the clinic and shouted.
“Sir..check properly sir..” – said the receptionist. “It may be hidden somewhere. What type is it sir..?”
“It is a brown quo-vadis..” – said Ram.
The clinic receptionist came out and scrounged for brown quo-vadis. There was none. “Sir here is a black quo-vadis..” –she said
The receptionist came in and yelled “Anybody wearing black quo-vadis..?”. Nobody responded.
“Sir, I think someone has mistaken yours for them. Doctor is seeing a lady now. And nobody here wears black quo-vadis. So I think it has got misplaced” – the receptionist said.
“Damn it..” – shouted Ram. He half-heartedly tried to wear the black quo-vadis. It was loose. “It is loose” – he exclaimed “But I can’t drive without my chappals..”
“Sir adjust today sir. If someone comes back I will inform you” – said the receptionist
“But.. But my chappals..” – shouted Ram.
“It is a mistake sir. What can be done..? It is not a crime.” – the receptionist answered. "We can't lodge a police complaint" - the receptionist muttered to herself.
Ram had no other go.
“Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech” – Ram literally tried to stand on his brakes. The traffic has halted suddenly.
Since his chappals were loose, he couldn’t apply the brakes properly. In fact his chappal slipped and fell down, as he applied the brakes. Ram’s car rushed forward hitting the rear of a bicycle and halted.
The bicycle man fell down. While the bicycle went under the wheels of Ram’s car, the bicycle man found himself crushed by his cycle.
Immediately a crowd gathered. Ram came out of the car and helped the bicycle man to get up.
“What sir.. You have crushed my hips” – cried the bicycle man limping. He was having pain below his hips upto the feet. The crowd pulled out the mangled bi-cycle from under the car.
“Sorry.. Sorry..” – said Ram. “It is my mistake. I accept. Please understand. I will compensate you for my mistake. It’s an accident. It’s a mistake. Ok. Not a crime”.
Ram pacified the crowd and the bicycle man with his offer of compensation.
Muthu was lying in the bed. His legs were bandaged and kept straight. He has been there in the bed for two weeks now, from the day he was hit by a car. He has to be resting like this for another four weeks.
At the time of accident, Muthu did not think that he had a serious injury. There was some pain.
But he could walk. He thought pain will subside soon.So he got money for his bicycle damage. He found about ligament injury in his knees only after a week. By then he could not even remember the car and its driver, let alone trace it. Somehow he has managed his expenditures with his savings for last two weeks. His wife has started borrowing now. He is after all an electrician, a daily wager.
Muthu’s phone rang. It was Star Electricals Rahim Bai.
“Muthu.. there is an urgent call from Rams Flats in Motilal street” – said Rahim Bai. “I know you have a problem. Why don’t u send Shanmugam over there and guide him over phone. It is urgent”.
“But Shanmugam is too inexperienced” – said Muthu “I am afraid he can commit mistakes”
“Let him learn from mistakes” – said Rahim “He is not going to commit crimes. You also need money. How many days you will borrow?” – said Rahim.
Muthu thought for a while. He also needed money. If he can make Shanmugam work for him, it would be great.
Raghu opened the door.
“Sir I am from Star Electricals. My name is shanmugam” – said Shanmugam.
“Yes.. Yes..” – Raghu said “Can u see that Washing machine..? This morning I was taking out the clothes after wash and I had a big shock. Good that Vasu who was standing here could see me from here. He immediately switched off the mains and I was saved.”
“Ok sir, I will see” – said shanmugam and entered the house.
Shanmugam started talking over the phone to Muthu, who guided him to find the fault. Shanmugam traced the fault to wirings in Kitchen.
“Yes Anna.. the wiring has molten and shorted” – said Shanmugam over the phone. “Ok Anna.. I will do it”.
“What happened” – Raghu asked.
“Sir this Flat is very old Flat. This electrical wiring in the Kitchen has almost molten. It has short-circuited the Earth and positive wires. That is why you were getting shocks” – Shanmugam said “ I am changing the wires”
As Shanmugam was about to finish his work, power went off. He said “Sir, there is an EB maintenance work in this area. Hence power will not come back before 5PM. I have changed the wiring. You won’t have any problems. If you have one, you can use a wooden plank to stand over, while operating the washing machine. If there is any complaint, call this number. It belongs to my boss Muthu. He will send me here”.
When Shanmugam reached Muthu’s place, Muthu asked Shanmugam about the work done by him. Shanmugam explained.
Muthu asked “Shanmugam, did you change the Switches also?”.
Shanmugam said “No anna.. I did not . In fact I did not check for them”
“No Shanmugam. Remember. If you are changing the wirings, you must also test the switches. Switches also would have got molten and shorted in such conditions” – said Shanmugam
“Sorry Anna” – said Shanmugam “It is a mistake, I accept. When I was about to finish, power went off. Due to EB maintenance work, there will be no power in that area till 5PM. Hence I did not test it even and came back”.
“This is a bigger mistake Shanmugam” – Muthu said. “Go to that house again, replace the switch and check out if everything is ok, before 5PM”.
Shanmugam said “It’s okay Anna. I will go there, replace the switch and test once the power comes”. Shanmugam told himself "Thank God, I escaped with little mistakes in my first independent work".
Once the electrician left, Raghu forgot about the washing machine and the clothes. He was engrossed in so many other things.
The power came back by 4:30 PM. Only when power came back, Raghu remembered the work done by the electrician. He had got diverted totally. Then only he remembered that their clothes were still in washing machine.
Raghu got himself in a contemplative mood.
How many mistakes I do in life, he thought. I should have dried the clothes already. By this time there will be little light. Better late than never, he thought. "As they say, there is always a tomorrow and Sunlight will come again, even if I dry it now" - he told himself.
How many mistakes I do in life, he thought. I should have dried the clothes already. By this time there will be little light. Better late than never, he thought. "As they say, there is always a tomorrow and Sunlight will come again, even if I dry it now" - he told himself.
Thank god, all these mistakes are reversible. Sometime back I swapped my chappals for someone else by mistake. I suffered with that chappal for sometime till I replaced it. So many mistakes I do day in and day out.
Just imagine, each mistake I do becomes a crime or becomes irreversible. Life will become terrible. We just can’t live, Raghu thought.
Raghu shook his head with that crazy thought. He hoped his mistakes never come back to him.
Raghu started walking towards his live-wire washing machine.
-TBT
-TBT
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