First principles

What happens when the recovery truck needs recovering

A news report said that rescue operations to pull out a grounded merchant ship had been suspended because the tug engaged in the rescue bid itself ran aground! I have had plenty of similar experiences and had begun to wonder if I was some kind of a Jonah. Not long ago, we were going to Jaipur by road when we came across a massive traffic jam. It turned out that a recovery vehicle attempting to remove two trucks in a collision had broken down and was blocking the highway. Now they needed another recovery vehicle to pull out the first one!

The other day we had a problem with our electricity supply. We called up an electrician who promised to come soon. When he had not turned up until the evening we called again. He told us quite agitatedly that he had come twice and had rung the bell repeatedly but nobody opened the door! If we had electricity supply, we wouldn8217;t8217; have needed him in the first place!

Many years ago, I was posted in Vishakhapatnam, then a one-horse town. With great fanfare, the town8217;s first proper restaurant was inaugurated. After a Sunday morning at the beach, we headed to the restaurant for lunch and occupied the best table; the rest were vacant anyway. After a long wait and plenty of shouting, a sleepy waiter came and took our order. He then informed us that we would have to wait for at least an hour. Asked why, he replied, 8220;The cook has gone for lunch.8221;

We came home and had sandwiches.

I have experienced lots of such incidents and I swear I am not making them up. Like the lift that got stuck on the 24th floor and could not be repaired because the repairman refused to climb up. Old-timers would recall the Harry Belafonte song, 8216;There8217;s a Hole in the Bucket8217;, wherein the hen-pecking Lisa keeps on needling Henry to fetch water in a bucket and old Henry coolly answers step by step how he cannot do so because of a hole in the bucket, to mend which water is required but cannot be fetched because of the hole!

Let me end with a secret. I spent over 30 years in the Navy but cannot swim. Fortunately, I never needed to!