The dear to life parking token

It was the summer of 1988, a big consumer fair was put in up Bangalore. Annual fairs came in a big way to Bangalore during the Mid 80s and everybody was bitten by its bug. I and my friend Venkatesh were no exceptions. Both of us went on a single cycle (talk about cycle pooling). We enjoyed a lot in the fair, made good eye contact with sweet lasses, had sweet lassi, popcorn, etc. Our ride on the giant wheel would have been heaven if only we had got two of our college girls to sit together. As cruel fate would have it, they sat in the box below us. We could see the mischievousness in their eyes which seemed to relish our disappointment.

After a little more roaming, we came out and went to the parking slot to take out our cycle. Venkatesh had misplaced the parking token and the stall owner won’t give us the cycle without the token. He gave us an option to wait till 10pm, if nobody came to collect the token, he will give us the cycle. This option was not acceptable, hence, Venky decided to go in searching for the coupon because he remembered to have thrown something from his pocket near a panipuri stall.

Nearly half an hour elapsed and he did not come out, so I went in and came back disappointed only to find neither the cycle nor Venky. The stall owner informed me that he had gone with the cycle. Sensing something strange, I decided to wait for him. After an hour, Venky came screaming at me. He related to me that he had found the token and came out to take the vehicle. He did not find me and thought I must be walking back home. He had gone upto my house only to find I had not reached home. Having realized what would have happened; he came back cycling the entire distance only to find me standing with popcorn. It seems that approximately, the same time, I went in, he had come out and the resultant comedy of error. We had a great laugh and went home. Till date, the receipt of a “parking token” rings an alarm in our minds. We value the “parking token” for our dear lives.