We reached the temple around 1.30 and got the receipt for the Vahan pooja. The priest did some pooja with the keys and asked us to get the car to the parking spot. I ran to get the car from where I had parked it to the spot. Pushed the keys in and turned….
keeccchhhhh…. keeccchhhhh…. keeccchhhhh….
nothing….
keeccchhhhh…. keeccchhhhh….
still nothing
keeccchhhhh…. keeccchhhhh…. keeccchhhhh…. keeccchhhhh….
The car was not starting.. Seemed some problem with battery. The priest waited for us for some time. Then came to the car. He tried to start.. still nothing. He asked me to call the Insurance agency for some roadside assistance. I did. Then he completed the pooja there and asked us to place the lemons behind the tires after the vehicle starts.
Fortunately, I had taken roadside assistance insurance! That was so lucky.. The insurance agency called their local contacts and gave us an estimated time of 30 mins. It was very hot. We sat in the car and waited… opened the doors and waited.. took a round around the now empty campus… Still waiting.. Finally Pop-a-Lock came.
He jumped the car with his battery and asked us to go to nearest Autozone and get the battery checked. We asked him for directions.. But as usual he did not know that 
Fawdi put the lemons in front of the car and we started. Fawdi adviced me against touching any buttons, anything that required battery. But then if I listen, how can I be me!
When we were waiting for the signal to turn green on a busy junction, I had the brainwave of starting the AC. I touched the AC switch and then everything went cold… including the engine!
We were right in the middle of the road and no battery, the blazing sun outside was not helping, nor were the honks. We decided to wait for some time in the car and get out. Fawdi called the Insurance agency again while I was standing at the back of the car, asking other vehicles to go to other lanes. If someone would have captured the scene it would have been a fantastic advertisement for the insurance agency. On second thoughts, The traffic camera did capture that!
When I was still diverting traffic, an old man walked up to me. “Do you think, your wife can sit inside, put the gear on neutral and direct the car till that petrol bunk? I can help you push!” I was too surprised to answer. Gathering my senses, I said, we can give it a try. Fawdi was not too sure if she can do it. She sat in the car and pressed the brakes hard. “Try really hard, you can push the gear into neutral”
“No its not going”
“Try once more”, “Nope” While this was going on, a SUV stopped close behind us. A tall well build man, with tattoos on his hands got out. “You need some help with that?” “Yeah sure” the old man said. “You are a good man” “Thanks” I said.
“Okay, can you try the gear once more”, “No its not going… wait, there it is” “Now we wait for the signal to turn green” And the moment the signal turned green, we pushed the car out of the road, into the parking space in the petrol Bunk. Finally, some shade. I thanked both my saviours.
Fawdi called pop-a-lock directly, instead of the insurance. That guy came in. Then I called up the insurance to ensure that they cover this too
After a jump again, we set out to find Autozone. This time no touching anything, no window rolling, no AC, nothing at all. I was even scared to give signal for lane change! After some searching, we found Autozone. We entered the parking area and the engine went cold again.
Twenty five minutes later, I was poorer by 80 USD, with my one day old “new” used car on a replaced battery, ready to go home, praying that it does not fail atleast till I reach back home.
It didnt
So I had just to come in and relax… Or so I thought. I took a car on rent on the sunday for a week. And then the thing that we are doing since past 8 months started all over again… travel.
