Starting Trouble

This morning as I woke up, I decided - no morning walk today. Leg is paining, nose is blocked, sore throat, head ache and feverish. After having a cup of tea and completing routine morning activities, felt a bit better. So I decided to take my pets out for a walk, the task I was planning to pass it on to my wife otherwise. Since that gave me the required warm up, I set off for my usual walking practice and I could complete it as usual.

It was just a starting trouble. When one hears “starting trouble” first thing that comes to mind is car! I too had my first car. It was Fiat Premium Padmini, that too “Deluxe model”. Not used by one or two, but misused by many. I got it in an auction. It was company car and they were planning to get rid of it. Me being trying to drive a car for the first time with no instructor beside me, and also looking at the small budget I had, I went for this option. My friend drove it and parked it in front my house. First few days I was hesitant to take it out. It was primarily used by my kids to play around, inside. With a lot of courage I managed to take it for a drive in the early hours of the morning for obvious reasons. In a few weeks time, I was faced with starting trouble. Car just refused to start. I had seen people starting the car by pushing, took help from wife and a few passersby to push the car. They managed to push the car for 20 meters or so, but no luck, car didn’t start.

A security guard watching all this came forward and asked “ Mein try karoon ( shall I try) ?”. Why not, I gave him green signal happily. He got in to the driver’s seat and me joining the pushing force. Another 30 meters, car started with a jiggle as if somebody had tickled it from all directions. Then I came to know from him that, sitting idle inside the car, keeping the ignition on, watching others push from rear view mirror alone won’t help. One needs to hold the clutch, put the car in second gear, and then release the clutch once the car attains some reasonable speed by pushing! Tickling and jiggling went on for some more months till I disposed the car and bought a new one.

My wife also had starting problem with this car, not while starting the car per say but while trying to start learning on it. She was also novice after obtaining Driving License. I had to force her so much and convince her that even if she made a few mistakes, no more damage can happen to this car. Whatever had to happen, had already happened. Since it was a single long seat in the front ( not the bucket seats ), I could sit so close to her that it was rather easy for me to punish her verbally and physically whenever she made a mistake. There were too many punishments from me for her to continue, so she gave up! Only beneficiaries were our kids at the rear who had non-stop entertainment!

Normally starting troubles are “cured” by a bit of warm up; take smaller, simpler steps first. I found a reverse one from a gentleman in a New Year eve party a few years back in our apartment complex. This gentle man was relative of one our neighbors and he happened to be there, so he joined us for the party. As the drinks session started, he took his peg and moved backwards, turned to the other side, as if he didn’t want others to watch him drinking. I closely followed him to see what was happening, nosy habits never die ! He closed his eyes, held his nostrils with left hand and in one shot he finished the entire stuff ! Then he shook his head rigorously like Roamy (my pet dog) does while water droplets fall on his head ! The gentle man was embarrassed to see me when he opened his eyes. He told “This is just the starting trouble. Now I am fit. I can drink slowly a few more pegs, sipping ”!

Trouble may arise out of starting something new, in a way one can call that also a starting trouble. This retired man from government services was deeply worried when his only son, college dropout, started wearing stud in one ear, sporting vague beard, getting up late and returning home even “later”! He decided to start something his own, so that he could bring in his son also. He started a franchise of some traditional phrama products that help people who have breathing problems. Being himself a chronic asthma patient, he thought this would be his best bet! I didn’t see any customers for days together when I was passing by his shop. I didn’t see his son either.  It was him alone, trying to breathe hard and staring at those unsold “breathe easy” products. He had to shut shop in a few months time, wasting a good part of his retirement benefits.

Like starting, there is stopping trouble too. We were at our friend’s place that evening. As we were generally chatting, the electricity went off. Candle was the only option, as there were no home inverters or generators those days. As soon as the power came back, I saw his son ( 9 years old ) jumping from his seat and putting out the candle. And I could hear wild screams and cries from his daughter ( 5 years old ) who was otherwise sitting quietly watching the burning candle. It took a while for me to understand what had happened. She wanted to put out the candle and her bro didn’t give her that opportunity. Simple problem, even simpler solution I thought! I just lit the candle again and asked her to put it out. “No no no… I want to put it out that time” she kept on crying. Since I couldn’t go to the past to simulate, I tried all tricks to stop her crying. I finally succeeded when she opened up for a dance performance in front of me. “Please don’t go there at all, once she starts dancing, you may have to put double the effort to make her stop” my friend couldn't stop warning me.

I do have stopping trouble too, I may go on and on writing like this. With so much of effort, let me stop here for the time being. 

Have a great weekend.