June 29, 2007

Locked and Loaded!!

First of all, it should be loaded and locked. Seriously, how can you load it once it is locked? But then again, English is as weird as a language can get, so I won't mind. Now here's the scenario: I have to shift my room, luggage and everything else from the fourth floor to the ground floor. And this is what happens, when there are too many locks. The story of three locks:

Lock 1: Owned by the hostel management, for the room no. 40, which was allotted to me newly.
Lock 2: Owned by me, for the room no. 396, the room which i was occupying.
Lock 3: Owned by Mahesh, for the room no. 44, of which a copy I was given. Coz let's face it, I lived in that room more than Mahesh.

Now the problem is to shift all the luggage from room 396, to room 40, using room 44 as a buffer, all by yourself, while ensuring that every room is locked when you are not in it. And of course, the end result should be that Lock 1 is given back to the hostel management, Lock 2 is now on room 40, and Lock 3 is still safe with you during all this ruckus. Oh and I forgot to mention, the luggage consisted of 7 fully loaded containers, ranging from as small as a dust bin to as big as a mountaineer's haversack. So you need to also ensure that you don't get too worn out while running up and down the stairs (yes stairs, you won't find lifts in Universities here...) while still having enough energy to carry that load.

So yes, i finally was able to juggle mattresses and buckets all the way down four floors, through cramped staircases, only to realise I forgot the keys to Lock 1 somewhere. :D typical me. Easy solution, use room 44 as the buffer, coz I wouldn't be losing the keys to Locks 2 and 3 in a hurry. And then retrace my steps to find that missing key, and resume the algorithm. I guess this is what they call a lock-step process. How I wish these transactions (or atleast the luggage) were atomic!

By the end, I had to whip out yet another lock, coz I had to lock room 4o, while handing over Lock 1. If everybody was as crazy as me, I guess we'd all be automatons, devoid of feelings and consideration for the poor readers of such nonsensical blogs. But then where's the fun, if you knew they didn't have feelings either?

2 comments:

Gururaj said...

yeyy....which floor will i get? i will come lok, stock, yaand barrel.

satan himself! said...

ha ha ha ha....been there, done that.. err, probably not :-)