It was on one fateful Sunday morning that I got a call from my friend. He offered me a free meal if I can drag my lazy bum (Not literally) till his office in ITPL. It's not that he was my close friend nor that I had anything to do for the rest of the day except to be a couch potato, but it was the treat that tempted me. I skipped my breakfast in order to take full advantage of the offer. At 12 noon, I grabbed my bike keys and started off. It was after 1 KM, that my bike ran out of fuel. With the fuel, my luck also had dried as Petrol was out of stock in B'lore since two days.

I guess it was dear God who wanted to have some fun with me in his idle time. Dragging my new Honda Stunner under hot sun was not a good experience. By the time I reached home, it was 12 and whatever energy I had left with, was already evaporated. I wanted to fill myself with water but the water bottle was empty and the Aqua Guard was not willing to shed even a drop without the power. I checked my wallet and rummaged my room. After 5 mins I started my journey to ITPL with a book full of Meal Vouchers, two Debit Cards (had 50K balance combined), one Credit card that had credit limit of 3 hundred thousands. Of all what really cheered me up was the seven one Rupee coins.

I took a bus to nearest ATM. I met another SBI that had ran out of money. I was left with 2 bucks and could not afford to buy a ticket. But with a brave heart, I boarded a bus . It was lunch time and the bus conductor had all the time in the world it seems ,he came to me and asked for a ticket."I have pass" I replied confidently. "Show me" he extended his hand. After 15 mins I got down the bus thanking him profusely. I never knew that there exist so many words to swear by in Kannada.

It was 2 PM by then and my friend had called me twice. He had asked me to take an auto but my middle class mentality did not accept that as they were demanding 300 Rs for that short distance.On some one's advice I started off to the nearest circle where there are two ATMs. I walked cursing the dusty roads and the traffic. As my luck would have it, after frying myself under the hot sun, I met an ATM that was already robbed and another ICICI ATM that was under the process of getting robbed. I joined the Que. I waited impatiently as the guy who was ahead of me came out with bunch of notes. I rushed in, the cool breeze of AC was relieving. I inserted card and entered RS.1000. "Sorry the machine is out of Money" the ugly lines flashed on screen. Greedy I am, I canceled the operation and tried to get Rs500. Then I begged the machine to give me at least Rs100 or even Rs 10. Nothing worked out, so I walked out.

One motorist there offered me a drop to the nearest ATM, but the problem was that it's a remote area where even one manages to get cash, can not manage to get a bus. As my mind had already shut downed many of it's operations by then , I sat in his bike without giving a second thought.At 2:30 I was standing in a deserted place staring at an ING bank ATM, that was yet to be launched in few days. By then my friend had called me 5 times cursing on my middle class mentality. My tongue was parched, stomach was dry and brain cooked up. In distance I saw an open shop amidst the closed shutters of shopping complexes. It looked like an Oasis to me in that place which was hot,dusty and deserted. With all that lost Glucose, my mind had started hallucinating of a pack of vultures following (me) their potential prey. Some how I reached the shop ,looked for water bottle. As I found none, I grabbed a Cadbury worth of 10 bucks and ate it as if it was the first and last piece of food in my life. The shop keeper was hell-bent on getting only cash. So I had to settle the deal with a Voucher worth of 50 bucks. The opportunity cost was 5 times higher the original price of the good.

The 250 calories that I consumed gave my brain a little energy to think rationally. I accepted my defeat to the situation. I understood that a 20 bucks in hand is worth of 300 bucks in bank. and this is not a country where one can roam around happily with bunch of credit cards .I negotiated an auto for Rs300. On my way I called my friend and was about to say that I am on my way....and the battery went dead. I was too strained to be panic, so I leaned back and closed my eyes.

After 10 mins, I made an effort to cheer witnessing my friend talking to the driver. We took same auto to the nearest Andhra Restaurant.It was 3:30 PM and the hotel was closed. We headed to the nearest bakery and helped ourselves with a bottle of coke. I felt too weak to take a bus. This time the Auto guy was good and he agreed to come for meager 250Rs for 8Km. The fateful Sunday, I shelled out 600 bucks to stay hungry,weak and frustrated . May be the world is moving with Credit cards and M-Check but I guess India has long way to go to make all the basic se