Over 15 years ago, we had just moved into a new flat. On one of the first days, we found ourselves locked out! “I thought you had the keys!” my wife said. “I thought you had the keys!” I retorted. Many a happy family has thus been marooned, the culprit being the main door fitted with an automatic lock.
You have exactly two choices: break down the main door, or have someone get into the home, in stealth mode, through the window. We think our homes are safe, secure, and out of bounds from nefarious elements. But all it took the security person was one leap from the neighbour’s flat to our restroom window. That done, he entered our flat and let us in! So much for our “notional” sense of security.
We immediately made friends with our neighbours. We gave them a set of keys for safekeeping. But what if the neighbours are on a holiday and we get locked out? We gave another set of keys to the housemaid. What if the housemaid is also away on that fateful day? Now, everyone on the planet has our house key!
House keys are slippery fellows. You stuff it in your pants pocket on your way to the office. In the evening, just as you are about to enter your flat, you feel your pocket, and it’s gone! Some stories have an unusual ending similar to the twist in an art film. Your wife lets you in, and you mumble, “I don’t know where I lost the house key!” She replies, “You never took it to the office in the first place! It is still by the washbasin!”
Keys with keychains have other issues. At the most opportune moment, just when you are leaning over the embankment, with a raging ocean below, you twirl the keychain, and this one time, out goes the keychain along with your key…into the swirling water! I told you, keys have a rebellious streak and can never be totally domesticated.
shankar.ccpp@gmail.com
