Of Murphy and his WiCkEd wIcKeD lawZ!!!

"If there's more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time," or, "Anything that can go wrong, will," or even, "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment")

Pre Requisite:Murphy's LAW

Saturday evening 8:45 pm: He had been working continously for the past 10 hours for now, without any breaks save his not-so-brief twenty minute ordeal with the contents of the Noodle Packet. Whoever gave the caption, "Maggi two minute noodles", thought he, had conveniently forgotten to mention the HAZARDS OF MAKING NOODLES or atleast the DO NOT's. He was confident about one thing though. His next noodle session would be a grand success. In whatever way it was possible to screw up the art: "noodle-making" he had already done that evening. Next time he wouldnt forget to add the water before putting it into the microwave atleast. Not unless he wanted to he wanted to hear the sweet chants of the fire alarm and the rhythmic grace with which foreign guards uttered obscenties ...once again!!!

Yup... The signs were already there... This was going to be ONEofTHOSEdayz.

Nothing had been going right that day. He repeatedly exchanged quick glances between the circuit diagram and the bread board. Why wasnt it working? He wished he had just chosen to be a software engineer. If all else failed, there wud always be the Ctrl-C Ctrl-V.

There existed a solitary pleasant thought in his mind then. She was expecting a call from him that evening. Their first since the 3 months they had started chatting. He had precisely calculated the time differences. It should be exactly 7:33 in her watch right now. 8:50(on her watch) was the time they had agreed upon. Precautions had been taken from both sides. He was only too aware of the ordeal of "Rendezvous with beastly DAD of the beauty".

Easy he thought. 15 minutes to wrap up work. Walk home. Buy dinner. (No more fiascos tonite). Eat. Relax. Call at 10. Past reputation had earned him the epithet "the miser". Not tonite. Money didnt matter tonite.

One hour and fifteen minutes later: (10:05 pm local time)
Arrrrghhhhh!!! The generator had been screaming in his ear for the past fifteen minutes. To make things worse, there was this really irritating flashing of light coming from the distant corner of the living room for the past 5 minutes. He moved to the source. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Oh no !!! Oh no!!! How could he have been so stupid to keep the mobile in silent mode? What point was a reminder set on the alarm if it didnt have the squeaking capacity of a mouse subjected to two torturous hours of Himesh Reshammiya songs.

Its a good thing there was a phone booth just below his house. He looked into his purse.Oh Oh. Re 10. Maybe he could just say "Hello... Srini-vas here" and cut the phone. Hmmmm!!! Dont think she would be too happy abt that!!! Ah... There was always the ever dependable Shaar... Gr8 roomie this guy... Never short of cash. Only a couple of days ago had he seen Shaar hangin 500 Rs notes to dry.

He should have paid heed to the signs... This was gonna be Murphy's Day.. Shaar had chosen the wrong day to go out shopping. Atleast the wrong time... He looked to his other roomies... The smiles on their faces indicated that he would have better luck trying to squeeze wisdom out of George Bush's speeches.

ICICI bank!!! There was an ICICI atm nearby. If he leapt at lightnin pace, he could get the money just b4 'princess' put him in yetAnotherTardyNut category. Run did he to the atm. Murphy's Law: Corollary 3C: The length of the queue (esp at testing times) is inversely proportional to the amount of time one has to spare. Corollary 3C : Sub Section A: If the time left is a real number less than or equal to zero, ther would be a plus 5-member in the queue. In addition probability of there being a female shopper (the ones that would take out the money, just get out of the ATM and run back in to grab an extra 300 more) would double.

It would be 10 more minutes before he learned that, for reasons beyond paranormal, his HSBC card would not work on this ICICI atm today (the first in the last 38 times he had been to the ATM). Either that or he had picked the perfect day to forget his 6 digit pin number*.

No seconds thoughts... Our hero now made a dash to the nearest HSBC bank... Strange no queue!!!!! Surely, Murphy was trying to outsmart him... somehow. He quicky withdrew the money from the ATM.

"Where is the phone booth?", asked he to the security guard. "I think there should be one right next to Nexus building. Just go left", replied the guard in perfect English. Murphy was definitely trying to set him up here. He would show Murphy who the smarter one of the two was. There would be no indecision. Took two steps did he to the left and then run to the right. He he!!! He would only allow Murphy a teasing sniff of victory before he outwitted him.

There was a reason Murphy had a law named after him. He could not so easily be outwitted. Our hero would have to return to the phone booth right beneath his house, where the Q#%$#$ generator was trying busy trying to prove that he had the noisiest growl of them all.

Apparently, choice was something he was not going to have in plenty today. Valiantly he stepped into "ThePhoneBooth". 00-93-555-55215544. The number would remain engrained in his mind for a long time. No more hassles here.

Hmmmph!!! Was it worth it??? Would a voice somewhere in the distant corner of the world be nearly as sweet as the extreme his imagination would let him percieve?? And to what end?? What fruitful gain could there possibly be from this "conversation"... the little which he could hear, that was not drowned in the monotonous noise of the generator.

"Hey U", said a voice on the other end of the phone. There are few... very few instances in life where one gets to find out that even Imagination had its limits. The voice on the other end. Memories of the days hardships vanished in an instant. He could not have prayed and gotten anything more beautiful.

All of the best things in life are worth fighting for. Only a few of them, would you look back and say. "Hmmmmm.... I wonder if I did enuf to deserve this reward". This could easily top that list. The story has perhaps only begun.