UP the Karma!

Why does this always happen to me? I do a thorough research, visit an array of shops before finalising the product, but they always fail me:( Someone said- "the household appliances you buy always are determined by your Karma". I think in my previous incarnation, i was born Kamsa and i murdered all them seven children who now are reborn- as my fridge, washing machine, mixer, gas stove, A/C, TV and laptop. And boy, how they exact their revenge! Women these days can seldom live without these gadgets and gizmos. Do we worry about the erratic power supply that plays hide and seek with us? Never!

The memory of our first fridge dates back to 1985, when we were the first family in our town to own a white Godrej 165 L. Mother was so possessive of it that she never let us, the three musketeers, any where within 1o feet radius of her fridge. She remembered her lesson well- my elder brother once tried to push his wailing younger sibling aged 6 months into the fridge during a power cut. The innocent elder brother wanted his little brother get some cool air and stop his incessant wails. Only when he tried to close the door did mother notice the little hand dangling out of the fridge! Imagine her shock. Elder one got the beating of his life that day;) 

The white mammoth, heavy Godrej worked relentlessly for almost 20 years. Wow! A fridge that worked without a hitch for 20 years! Wow! Must have been a Guinness record! As days went by, the white elephant looked a tad out of fashion, which mother refused to acknowledge. It breathed its last after successfully completing twenty years. We gave it a decent burial- exchanged her for another green Godrej which has worked a decade in mother's home, still going strong. Mother had by now become a fervent Godrejist! When i married and my uncles gifted me a fridge, she was shocked when i asked for a LG fridge. I seriously had no idea how the new brand worked, but mother prophecised- "You will regret this one day!"

My electric/ electronic gadgets always fail me, ASATC- As Soon As They CAN, which is ironically just the day after their warranty expires. The recent addition to the failure list is my brand new Whirlpool fridge which lost its compressor, seven months within its purchase. I wonder how mother used the same mixer for 10 years- i had to recoil my mixers' motor umpteen number of times, exchanged it once and have shelled out a fortune in maintaining the current piece that sputters and groans like an old engine off the tracks. And the cooking gas- it has an 'on and off' relationship with my lighter. They love each other and click the moment i strike some days. At times, the lighter boy just doesn't want to touch the burner girl. I have exchanged three stoves so far, in a span of  10 years! I wish the current butterfly glass top doesn't forsake me in the middle of a meal with guests teeming in the house!

The washing machine- ah...how can i forget him? The current one is my second washing machine. I loved my first whirlpool washing machine so much, that we ended up with the same model again. Why? Because i am a dancer! And i love my washing machine's moves. He can put MJ to shame with his twists, turns and moves. We have tied him to the tap with a strong rope, lest he runs away from our home! I was shocked to see a 'Quiet wash' washing machine in my brother's household the other day. Washing machines are supposed to entertain us with their gyrating dance moves and eerie music, ain't they? The entire street knows when i am washing my clothes- so silent is he. At times, he pulls in quirky clothes within the drum that requires a mechanic to repair, who charges a cool three hundred bucks. His last visit was to pull out my little one's slip worth fifty bucks from under the drum! Next time, i better use surgical forceps to remove the dresses caught inside. Oh, i forgot to mention, my washing machine just loves skimpy inner-wear!

The A/C? How can i not mention it? Split or window, they always are a pain in the behind. Either the gas fizzles out, or the tube is blocked, the power point gets burned or simply it stops working in the middle of a hot summer night, for no reason. Oh...and it works again like a puppy the next day morning, when the mechanic arrives, earning him an ill- deserved five hundred rupees for the visit and his switching it on! 

The laptop...i am the proud owner of a HP mini notebook, which has a peculiar characteristic- the "A"s, "Q"s, "1"s and "0"s don't work, even this moment! I use an onscreen keyboard and click away the missing letters using the mouse! The Fujitsu laptop i used for almost five years was a darling, till it gave me trouble one day- the fan sprayed so much hot air that i had a burnt lap;) Suddenly it refused to work. I gave it to my dear hardware 'specialist' who formatted the laptop- along with eight years' documentary, pictoral evidences of my happy family life after wedding...I had to nag, beg, brag and kick the hell out of everyone at home to copy down the lost pictures from their hard disks. As for the 'specialist', he still is in oblivion- has never crossed my path again. God saved his behind!

As for the inverter- my Gosh, the most wonderful invention of man, it always fails in summer.  We had to sleep huddled together in a single room, under a single fan that threatened to die any moment, the whole summer. The inverter's battery works like a politician contesting an election. During collection of annual maintenance charges, it works tick-tock like a clock. The moment i pay the money, it plays hide and seek, tripping whenever we switch on a second light!

 The mobile phone- the lesser said, the better. I dropped one in a ditch while seriously contemplating a turn, talking to a friend over it. The next one refused to just switch on, on a fine morning. The third one was duly washed by my little one, 'as it was dirty'. The others were discarded, as they were out of fashion. I-phonemania caught up with me years back. I have been bugging L for a new i-phone right from i-phone2 days. 3 came and went, 4 slipped by and now 4S is going strong, but the new phone is nowhere in sight. Ironically, the nokia 5800 express music that i've been clicking away the last two years refuses to stop working! I've dropped it ( i swear, i dropped it accidentally!) innumerable times, it stops working every now and then, but due to my Karma, it just revives itself! It is unkillable, unstoppable- perpetual! May be it is the Krishna Himself!

I type away, overcome with fear over what will stop working next...the last two months has seen repair works for A/C, fridge, washing machine, gas stove, inverter, etc. So the next in list ought to be??? Never in my life have i felt so afraid and helpless. May be i should UP my Karma, or undergo  a penance pleading long life for my electric/ electronic gizmos. Om Shanthi!