The planets - they are a smirkin'

It has been almost 4 weeks since we moved into our new home. In that period, it seems just about anything that could have gone wrong, has done so.

1. Our new microwave when switched on, unfailingly blew a fuse in the mains. On investigation, it turned out an MCB needed replacement, which was duly done.
2. Our fridge of six years, which has travelled from Mumbai to Sydney to Bangalore decided it had enough of our itinerant ways, and began heating up dangerously. It seems the beading needs replacement.
3. In the land of abundant labour, finding domestic help has proved unexpectedly difficult. When we finally found someone, she turned up for two days, and on the third day, announced she had fallen sick and would be absent for a week.
4. I went to a key maker to get a duplicate key made for our door. Having handed over the original, I told the key maker I would be back in ten minutes to collect my keys. On returning to the shop, I found the shutters down! This was followed by an hour of frantic telephone calling, tracking down one of the key maker’s colleagues, pleading with him to open the shop and hand me my keys.
5. After all of the above, the duplicate key did not work. It got stuck in the door, and when yanked loose, broke free with the whole lock in tow! The lock then had to be fitted back into place.
6. We got a new telephone cum broadband connection. We couldn’t make any outgoing calls for the first two weeks, thanks to an Airtel “backend server problem”. The silver lining is that the internet worked fine and as of yesterday we could finally make outgoing calls.
7. My older son, K, missed the assessment week in school, down with “tonsillitis and secondary chest infection”.
8. I had my first root canal treatment done by a dentist a couple of weeks back. After capping my molar, my dentist assured me this would last for about 10 years. The very next day, the crown popped out during my lunch, an off white garnishing glowing amidst a sea of sambar.

With all this, when M pointed out yesterday that the geyser in one of the bathrooms seemed to be dripping, we just nodded knowingly at each other, and muttered, “It’s the planets”.