My experience with ATM

John Shepherd-Barron's invention was meant to make life more simpler,has he fulfilled it?The answer is both yes and no.For people wondering Shepherd-Barron, who? he is the inventor of the machine which has plagued our daily lives, more commonly known as ATM or Automated Teller Machine.

Discussion of the shortcomings and advantages of ATM is akin to discussing technology which gets dragged to great lengths.I am here to share my personal experience of ATM.

Eons ago when there was no ATM, people thronged the banks frequently and stood in long queues for hours to get their money.But ATM has relieved them of this abysmal trouble to some extent.At least for me it has brought both ecstasy and agony,the former because it provided me the money,when I desperately needed it at any time of the day, like a very thirsty crow finding a water body to quench its thirst and the latter part because the ATM gets my goat big time as I cannot locate any ATM or even if I do it would have gone bust with a paper stuck to its glass door reading "This ATM is temporarily out of order.Sorry for the inconvenience caused" which is like thumbing its nose at me in an act of derision.The ATM has always dented a hole in my wallet and made it money-less because of the fact that I know even if my wallet doesn't have any money I can locate an ATM anywhere around and get the money but many a times this fact of mine has boomeranged on me and how.

The other day it so happened that I did not have any money to head back home from my office and there was no ATM near-by.Even i could not call any friends around because they had already left for home.And did not have the courage to take an auto-rickshaw and ask him to take me to the nearest ATM because of the fact that if that should the ATM not work, I could not pay the auto-rickshaw guy which would result in facing his wrath and get some earful from him because of the ugly expletives they are known for, which would be the last thing in this world I would like to have.I decided to take a walk towards the ATM which was about 2-3 kms away,I knew it was going to be a long walk.I took the service road or the side road,it was deserted with some huts on the road side,the sun was descending and it was getting darker.And I was walking in that road with heart in my mouth as I had heard stories about people being looted while on their bikes/cars in broad daylight but here I was on my own walking in the dusk ,where I would be feast for those hoodlums any day.I had no other choice.Grabbing all the guts from within I walked and safely reached the ATM and to my joy it was working fine and so did my card and withdrew some money and headed to the bus-stop as a very relieved and a happy man.
From that moment onwards I decided to never take the ATM for granted and have some money in pocket always and before it gets over head to ATM and help myself.