Doors of Wisdom

There are times when you want to kick yourself for doing stupid things. Yesterday was one of those days.

Here I was in a great Sunday leisurely mood going out into the night for taking a walk. I step out of the apartment and then I realize 'I hadnt taken the key'. For sure, I had been extra careful not to leave the balcony door open. Sunday 10pm. In a country where not a single store opens on Sundays, cant speak a word of the language and didnt even know my neighbours really...why wouldnt I want to kick myself?

So I go and wake up the Housekeeper who doesnt speak a word of English(still dont know what she thought of me...). She was a sweet enough lady that she woke up her husband to come and help me out. So we try our door for about 15 min with no luck. Finally my neighbour comes out (thankfully, he speaks English) and he says, why dont you go and sleep at a friend's place and arranges for a locksmith to come at 8 am the next day (Bless him). He also adds 'If you dont find your friend in or something, dont sleep on the streets. Give me a call'. What an exciting thought!

Thankfully my friend was in. It turned out it was not a good night to visit him as he was awake most of the night with a production support issue (didnt know people actually did work at crazy hours like this..well that's a different post altogether).

So finally I come back home at 8 the next day...the locksmith comes in...and he doesnt take more than 4 sec to open the door...that must be the fastest anyone earned 70 euros ever. I felt so foolish....maybe I should have tried fiddling with the door for some more time...maybe I shouldnt have been so stupid enough to put all my keys inside. I dont normally convert to rupees...but this one warranted that...what a way to burn 4000 Rs/-.

So some lessons for people going to a foreign unknown city:
1. Never keep all copies of your keys inside
2. Know thy neighbour
3. Speak the language
4. Always have a backup (a friend's place to crash) :)