All charged up!

As I get ready to leave for Bikaner this afternoon, I decided to make a packing list (finally!) to expedite the process I'm having to revisit every handful of days. So far, I'm done with the 'gadgets' bullet - inspired by the great need that arose in Luniyakhedi, where I went with blissfully uncharged or half-charged devices. Power was available only for a few hours a day, also the hours we were typically out of the house. And when I thought I'd finally found a time to beat everyone else to the switch plate (only because most of us had left or headed out to Ujjain), I was told by SB - "Aaj Budhvar hai" (today is Wednesday). I said (with a tremendous and unsuccessful effort to hide my incomprehension and ignorance) "Aaj Budhvar hai... to?" (today is Wednesday - long pause - so?). She responded, "To aaj bijli nahi aati" (so there is no power today). The conversation ended with an "Ah...."

Anyway, in my effort to assimilate all the lessons that life is bombarding me with these days, I decided to make a list of my treasury of gadgets, and ensure that they have charge and memory before I pack them in. Check it out:

• Voice Recorder + Duracell Batteries + SD Card
• Flip Video Recorder + Duracell Batteries + Space
• DSLR + Charged Canon Batteries + Canon Charger + Flash Card + Card Reader
  
• Point-and-Shoot + Charged Canon Battery + (Said) Canon Charger + SD Card
• Tata Indicom USB Modem (no battery, no space, phew!)
• iPod Shuffle + Headphones + Charge + Songs
• Cellphone + Charge + Charger
  
• Laptop + Charge + Charger
• External Hard Disk

If only I had one more, that would make it a perfect ten. Anyway, are you suitably impressed? Awesome. Now let's pray no one in my train compartment is reading this :).