The 'green' monsters!

The whole weekend was like an episode of Seinfeld... one small irritating issue living with us... travelling with us and almost ruining the day! It started off rather innocuously... all I had to do was to head to the nearby self-wash station and give my Si a super wash! It all went on well, until the machine that was to give the quarters did not like the notes I was sending in, halfway through the wash.It was like a competion... I send the note in.. and count to three, and out the note would come!! damn! It'd been a while since I was so angry and frustrated! The whole thing got so irritating that I did a rather ordinary job at washing.. and would most likely have to wash it soon... sorry Si!:)

We were to then head to the Hanuman temple in the hills(oh yes! there will soon be a post on that).. pick up some stuff from the ayurveda store(yes! in the mountains up in Watsonville!) for an ailing friend and then head to my weekend retreat.. Shank's Spanish-style(it'll turn you into Brendan Fraser in Bedazzled..in no time.. you'll run out screaming... muchooss graaciaass) apartment in Mountain view.The store was closed.. so we decided to catch a snack at Anjaneya's world cafe(my dad'll love that name).. near the temple... but as it turns out.. the place doesnt accept cash(the $20 note makes its grand entry.. BG meejik et al).. so all we could do was walk around...but when we finally went to the store, that was almost in the forest, we realized, well.. they accepted cards!! hmm... so the store that less people frequent does something than the more popular cafe. yes... that makes perfect sense? :)

We drove into the clouds .. and when we came out of it, we were in the mountains, driving down a road that'll fit perfectly in any of the Final Destination series.It was narrow.. winding.. and well... a dirt road, with atleast a 50-100 ft fall if we missed a turn.. and ridiculously blind turns.. can you even call that a road? :))I wasnt driving... so my friend Murphy could'nt do much! Finally we made it out.. and head to Fremont's Naz8, my first visit there, to catch Love Aaj Kal... had been ages since I watched a Hindi movie, especially in the theatre. The movie's songs were awesome.. and I'd made Shank and Nag hear it long and repeatedly enough that they wanted to watch it too! :) After an unsuccesful attempt at AMC, there we were, trying to catch the 10pm.We reach the box office and see the dreaded printout.. "Cash Only at counter"(the $20 bill giving the Gulshan Grover smile).. The ATM machine inside didnt work and we were almost shoo'ed away by the guy there as though we were going to pull a 'Bank Job' on the ATM. We managed to find an ATM nearby.. and happily took enough cash for the rest of the month, only to make it to the top of the line and be told.. "10pm sow solld... laben pm sow only"... argh! it was like a credit card offer... *conditions apply.. need to spent 2 hrs in this place... all while hungry and trying to find a good place to eat! We took the tickets and ended up going to Sweet Tomatoes(the review on that rather interesting experience later). We watched the movie(not bad at all),after some super desi ads and thought we'd had enough of the 'green monsters'!
Apparently not.....cut to Day:2... just in time for a Kailash Kher concert.. there we were.. at the Powell station in SF trying to get catch the MUNI... only to realise that the ticket counter took only quarters... and the change machine that would give you quarters..accepted only $1 bills(seriously, this is supposed to make the experience so freaking good that the aam junta would prefer public transit again?) .. Shank ran to get a $ 5 bill(the $20 bill's kid has grown up into a villain too!!) broken.. and returned with.. a banana(??) and more ammo,$1 bills.. while I was doing the Ka-Ching routine at the speed .. the machine wanted to! :))Finally.. we ran to the turnstiles...one guy holding the bag of lunch sandwiches... one with a backpack and the remaining bills... and me flexing my forearm and wrist with 6 bucks worth of qtrs.. in slow-mo!! :)) It'd have been fun had one of them decided to slip through my fingers.... :)
We made it to the concert... through the weekend.. and after the multiple encounters with the $ 20 clan, ended the weekend with none of them remaining.. but me made it alright, just about!
What Now? Get our quarter-ammo ready, in a sack, when we hit SF's MUNIs next weekend.. and walk in slow-mo too...!

Update: A couple of days after I had written about them, the monsters strike again! Fighting a back spasm and trying to desperately get some work done, I went to the office vending machine, for the first time in well... ages!I picked up an Its-It ice cream sandwich(yummy cappuccino flavor) and out they came.In response to a $5 bill.. there was one sound .. and one too many in a few second... I was Ka-ching'ed!! I walked to my desk with a bar of choc sandwich in one hand... and a handful of DIMES, worth about 4 BUCKS in the other.... and there were a couple of folks who did seem quite amused.. looks like I gave the fag end of their day something to laugh about.. trrring.. KaChing!!