Down but back again

I was having  pretty much a great week,I got decent grades in competitive exams , my mom was happy that my admission was secure and my dad was trying his best to look happy. I was partying with friends to celebrate the fact that those horrible things in life called examinations were finally over.My paternal grandmother  was having a knee replacement surgery in Hyderabad , both my parents had to go there in order to look after her & my maternal grandmother wanted a holiday with her cousins in Australia ,look at these old people,I write the exams and they get the holiday. 
So that leaves me.If you are sympathizing that I didn't  get a holiday ,don’t. 
Ladies and gentlemen I was going to have the entire house for myself . I could call all my friends and party,well at-least that’s what I thought I would do, until that fateful night

I had this crazy idea to go to a nearby ice-cream parlor at 11 pm in the night. That wasn't necessarily crazy part . I wanted to drive there in the car like a cool guy,Now that was a crazy idea considering that I had no license and that I had been attending driving school only for a week now .I did think it was crazy idea even then,what if I made a mistake and something went wrong. That’s when I saw this Albert Einstein quote that was on my wall “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. “.
I smiled. I went through the streets like a thief ,afraid that the police would get me, but how could they? I give infiltration a new meaning . It would take the Indian police another 10 years to catch me! I reached the parlor , I got out and locked my door using the door lock. The car was quite old and the key lock was not completely functional so we always locked the door from inside. I smiled as I walked, thinking of what to have and was caught in a mental debate between french fries and sandwich.Sandwich is 60 rupees fries is 50 rupees. After a lot of consideration I declared fries the winner.

I checked my pockets on a whim just to see if I had the money.House keys? –check, wallet?-check ,discount coupon? check. Car keys? Where were the car keys?oh mother of god.! I knew where the car keys were, they were in the car, but with the door locked!

No need to panic I told myself desperately. Of course I needed to panic,think about the mess I was in. For the next one hour I tried opening the car door in as many ways there were.People passing by looked at me like I were a mad person trying to steal someone’s car.

One of them actually remarked "Look at that kid trying to steal the car when he doesn't have a license to even drive”. I turned at the lady.and gave her a cold stare. I sat on the platform & started to think.

This is how my thought process would go-“ OK what if I break the door,use my pocket money I have and get it fixed tomorrow, no Amma will find out & then they will kill me, I will be scolded and banned from every outing I would have wanted. No I cannot risk that . This vacation is too precious. I still have four more movies that I wanted to watch in addition to that 2 more ice cream coupons…cant let go of all, that….,Idiot,focus on the problem in hand” that’s when I remembered  another quote  Albert Einstein " Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.”

I reached one important conclusion that minute –‘I needed to go home,leaving the car like this? "Who could possibly steal the car…" I thought "I am the owner and I couldn't open it…how would a thief with average  brains do it? Well if I stayed I could perhaps find out how to steal a locked car" I went home and thought very carefully and I couldn't think of anything…"tic toc tic toc…the clock went on and on….oh god couldn't they have a digital clock? It was 5 am in the morning & my parents were coming back that evening …and they wanted to go out as well……  great!" I thought carefully and  ran out on all ideas

Finally I called my mom at 8 in the morning "hey amma just wanted to ask u about  some problem my friend has”…I explained my situation in a third person’s view and believe me she did'nt guess that it was actually me who was in trouble. "Has your friend tried using the duplicate ?" Wait a second ,why did I not think of that? I thanked my mom and ended the call

Problem solved I just needed a duplicate….but wait ,where is the duplicate?I did not have the answer to that question…but I felt I was in a better position than I was before …I thought carefully. I couldn't search the entire house and sort it back within the given time.

I made a call and they were at my service ,friends to the rescue…they laughed their fullest when they heard my story but they helped me.

Within 3 hours I had the duplicate, I guess my parents weren't that good in hide and seek …
they hid the key in a pretty obvious location,in a key bunch…..maybe not…because they didn't anticipate me to do the crazy thing I did . I got the car back

And I treated my friends to ice cream .There is a incredible feeling you get when you solve a math problem . Today I was experiencing that for solving one of the toughest situations I had been

That evening my parents were back, we went to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate my grandmothers recovery from that surgery.As my dad parked the car and was closing the door he commented “Stupid door ,we need to lock it from the inside” and I smiled “yeah, I know” 

Wonder how sometimes we feel totally hopeless about our life's , but when we carefully think about it. We realize its not totally hopeless .There is always a solution to every problem ..all we need is the immense desire to find it… after all Albert Einstein did  once say “ Admist ever problem lies opportunity”