Doorbell !!

Almost two years in a developed country can make you a different person. Lazier and used to of comfort and a luxurious lifestyle. each and any kind of task is just a phone call or a ride away. twenty four by seven electricity, water, heater, air conditioners, internet and what not. no government officer asks for bribe, no corruption, every one follows rules and regulations. Of course i am talking about general population as every society always have some or the other kind of criminal minds and rule breakers. here they are countable, unlike what we see in India. here countable population are of those who follow the rules.

And when i decided to return back to home country it was a shock for all who came to know. why a person in sane mind would decide to leave a comfortable life and move back to the chaos. valid question indeed for which i have had no answers. My friends in India were equally surprised, all they wanted to move out of the country and here there was me, who was willingly returning back. 

I had long discussions with my colleagues, specially my manager, and heard all those problems one has to face while working in India, as if i have never been there. starting from well increased house rent and deposits, weather conditions, horrible traffic and narrow roads, people everywhere, pollution, air filled with carbon and dusts, corruption, money needed even if a traffic police just calls you irrespective of your documents and all and much more of these with your salary which will now be in INR. all of which i was already aware of, still i was adamant to travel back, they were disappointed, for them it was an irresponsible, childish, emotional, foolish decision to make. I was not sure may be they are right. 

Sunday i was sitting again in beer market. we were almost regular here from last few days, to be precise, regular since the day my friends and cricket team mates came to know about me traveling back to India. 

'No change in the plan?' Kaustubh asked me, keeping his tall sam adams glass aside. he is senior most in our group and also captain of the team, which is named 'redhawks'. we were already out of the tournament so there will be no harm me leaving it. there would have been an issue if we had qualified to next round as we do not have any other wicket-keeper in our team. 

'not so far' i replied. 

'i dont think there will be any change, as your return date is already set.' he said, i smiled and took a sip out of my dosxx.

'okay then, all the best and be careful while buying a doorbell for your house in India' 

We all turned to him. 'Doorbell' he had said. what role possibly can a doorbell perform in your life and how was it related to my travel? we all were curious and he knew it. but instead replying to us he was busy sipping his beer creating more suspense. once environment was set and all eyes were on him, he put the glass aside.

'You see i was newly wedded and we rented a new house in Pune. initial setup of apartment was a disaster. every other day my wife will say, i need an extra plate, one more pan for tea, two more glasses for guests, and many such small stuffs which she wanted as and when she needed. one of them was to put a doorbell. we went buying it and after listening to almost thirteen sounds, we zeroed on one of the fanciest cuckoo sound doorbell, which rang for no more than two minutes. it was nice and we both liked it. shopkeeper offered to fix it in our apartment for free. so far all good. next morning, 6 AM, milkman rang it as an indicator that milk packets were kept on the door, 2 minutes bloody cuckoo screamed in morning 6 AM. Newspaper-man rang it. my wife orders flower garland, he rang the bell. we all love to sleep in morning and for none of the rings you really have to open the door as they all are just indicators' but still every time my pet cuckoo kept shouting and shouting and shouting. so now you already know which doorbell to buy. ting-tong'

We all laughed. he really had suffered. and none of us thought of this really minor but important part of daily life in India. Now as i was all set to travel back. one thing i was sure about and that was the doorbell.