Madhu's Mother in Law(MML), shrieking from her room: Madhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu(Bahuuuuuuuuuuuuu!) Air conditioning has turned off! What have you done now?

MML was tired of Madhu's experiments and their mishaps. She was always on the edge. Only this time, Madhu was in kitchen and cooking.

Madhu yelled back, "Sorry Maa, I am in the kitchen, making some hot Chapatis. The battery can't sustain the load of the electric stove and AC. I am cooking for you too. Would you rather eat something else? Bread maybe?"

मधु ने वापस रसोई से ही जवाब दिया, "दो मिनट माँ, रोटी बना रही हुँ, मैं जल्दी ही निपटा दुंगी, पक्का। आप के लिये भी बना रही हुं, आप खाओगे ना….. गरम गरम। या कुछ और? Bread?"

On hearing this, reminiscing good old days, MML grumbled to herself:

"Man, back in our day, there was no menace of battery and electricity. We had Thepadi(cow dung cakes) and gas cylinders" Use them whenever you want and cook whatever you want. Even the taste was richer. These electric stoves are good for nothing pieces of junk. They turn everything into pulp and everything tastes like khichadi."

She grossed herself out. And now, the thought of having to eat the bland food killed her hunger. The April heat was starting to get to her and everything irked her more. She continued blabbering to herself, "Look at this fan. I can't even feel any air from it. And this is April! God know how I'll be able to survive rest of summer. And this Madhu is good for nothing! She'd rather have me dead. Why can't she just use plain old gas stoves? she will thank me later for getting to eat tasty, nutritious food. Ohh God! Help me through this phase of life, take care of me, Ohh God!!!"

Madhu continued cooking. She herself wanted to wrap it up as soon as possible. She was sweating like a pig. These modern batteries weren't holding up to their promises. They needed higher voltage supplies to charge fully and even when they did get charged, they weren't compatible with her appliances. Battery claims came with "conditions" and always expected end users to throw away their existing appliances and replace them with the latest ones. Madhu's kitchen, rather her whole house was full of refurbished products. They were reliable but not always compatible. Madhu got reminded of the fixes she has to make to her washing machine to tune to the battery's frequency. Otherwise doing laundry will also shut down the power to the rest of the house. Ugh!! Frustrated she felt like kicking herself. There were so much more left to do around the house. Just then sight of the puffing chapati caught her attention and brought her respite. She refocused her attention and rushed through making the rest of the chapatis. Soon after, the stove was shut off and the AC was blowing at full speed.

Madhu let out a sigh of relief at the cool air blowing against her face. She went to the drawing room and sat down on the couch to relax. She heard a thud at the front gate and got up to see what was happening there.

Madhu heard a thud at the gate and she stood up to peek through the window to see what was going on. It was her husband, Mahinder, struggling to open the gate and balance his scooty. As the gate opened fully he again took hold of his scooty properly and started pushing it.

He wasn't riding the scooty, he was walking along with it, balancing it. He wasn't just walking with it, he was also pushing it. Madhu, curious about the commotion, reached the door to see things better.

o"What have you dragged this time honey?" Madhu said.

मधु: इस बार आप क्या उठा लाए आप(प्रिये)?

Mahinder, wiping the sweat over his forehead with his sleeve and taking a small break from pushing, said, "Nothing much yaar, It's a battery."

महिन्दर: कुछ नहीं यार, एक बेटरी है।

"You went to Parmanad Jis house right? To setup their new battery and something else?", Madhu asked.

मधु: आप तो परमान्नद जी के यहां नई बैटरी या कुछ तो करने गए थे ना?

Parmanand Ji(परमान्नद जी) was one of most successful businessmen(बहुत बड़े व्यापारी) in Jaisalmer(?).

Mahinder, continuing to push his scooty to the shade and nearly out of breath, said, "Yeah, to install a new battery and to setup a booster. This is their older battery which they no longer needed and were struggling to get rid off, so I offered to take it from them."

महिन्दर:

"And they just gave it you?", Madhu asked, surprised.

मधु:

Mahinder, a bit annoyed by all the talk and no help, said, "Yes, they were very relieved actually. Now can you please help me out here?"

महिन्दर:

Madhu suddenly realized, the heat, condition of scooty and the way Mahinder was balancing all of it. She flushed a bit and rushed to help him. As they both tried to push she realized how hard it was. Mahinder was pushing the scooty with all his might and it was barely moving. With great effort, they finally managed to push the scooty to shade, put it on main stand and prepared to take the jute bag, which contained the battery. It looked bulky. As Madhu reached out to hold one end of the bag, Mahinder panted, "Careful, it is heavy."

महिन्दर: ध्यान से, भारी है।

"I can see that. Scooty is almost dead, and you, like a fool, hauling it around the city in this crazy summer afternoon. Why you do things like this. Why didn't you take an Auto or mini-van or even a cart(Camel or Ox) to bring it here. Ughhh…. Mahinder, at times, you make me so mad.", said Madhu, exasperated.

मधु: दिख रहा हे मेरे को! महिन्दर आप ऐसा क्युं करते हो? भरी दुपहरी में एस भार को ढ़ो रहे हो। एक रिक्शा कर लेते तो क्या हो जाता। क्या यार आप भी….

Mahinder didn't say anything. He knew better. They untied the battery from the seat of the scooty. They both synchronized to balance the weight of battery and slowly took it down and kept it directly on the बरांमदा. "Lets drag the bag inside to the drawing room instead of carrying it.", he said. They dragged the bag against the floor. The bag almost tore by the time they were inside the drawing room. Both Madhu and Mahnider were sweating like a pig.

Madhu fetched some water from the earthen pot, increased the fan speed of AC and they both relaxed a bit on the Sofa before resuming the conversation.

Mahinder said, "Yaar, I tried to get auto, but in the afternoon the whole city was deserted¹, no pun intended. There was no one on the street, I waited for almost half an hour before deciding to drag it myself."

Madhu wasn't looking convinced.

"Seriously yaar. Its almost 44 Degree outside. And I wanted to get out of Parmanand ji's house with this battery before he changed his mind of giving it away."

Madhu's attention shifted to battery. She lifted the flaps of the bag to see what kind of battery it was. It felt like it weighed tonnes.

Mahinder Continued, "Parmanand Ji's grandson sent him some new battery from Umreeka. They tried to get it hooked up but their regular electrician wasn't able to understand how to do it(उसको चमका नहीं). So Parmanandji called me up. I looked up the specs for the battery, saw some DIY videos on what's needed to set it up and realized that the power supply voltage Parmanand Ji have is not compatible with the battery. So I said, you will need booster to get more voltage(बूसटर लगाना पडेगा). As I finished that up and was about to leave when I noticed this battery(gesturing towards the jute bag). I asked them about it and they said, they had been using this battery from past 3-4 years. They were not able to figure out how to charge it completely. It never went beyond 30-40% and when they called electricians she wasn't able to help out either. Last month their grandson had visited them and he got really frustrated of the heat and constant load shedding between the AC and other appliances. As he returned to Umreeka, he shipped this new battery to them. They said the older battery, when they first got, it was fully charged and was wonderful. The charge lasted for almost an year and they never noticed any fluctuation between power as they used their devices, no matter how many of those they used.

Madhu noticed "Simba" logo on the battery. She almost jumped from her seat.

"How did Parmanand Ji got his hands on this battery?!", asked Madhu.

"You know what is this?", Mahinder responded with his own question.

"Yes I do, but How did Paramanand Ji got it?", asked Madhu again.

"They said that one of their Son-in-law, who does export of grains went with the goods to the port, Kandla possibly. Their in the shipyard, one ship was getting dismantled.", said Mahinder.

Madhu corrected him, "I think you mean Alang port. That's where ships get dismantled and the scrapes are sold in the price of scrape कबाड के भाव।"

"Yes, yes, that's what I mean., That's where he got this battery from his friend apparently and then he gave it to Parmanand ji." Mahinder finished.

"And those idiots! they never realized what they got!", Madhu said, excitedly.

"You mean, this battery is good?", inquired Mahinder

Madhu Nodded.

Mahinder, feeling relieved, said, "Good! That means I didn't just haul a dead weight in this scorching heat?"

"We will get back to that machismo a bit later. Lets focus on battery for now.", said Madhu still a bit annoyed by Mahinder's adventure.

"Pray continue. What is it?", said Mahinder grinning.

"Well, the battery is from this startup in Africa, Simba. Look at the logo. They had figured out a unique way to charge the battery and keep it going for long time.", Madhu explained.

"I tried to search the name and logo yaar, I didn't find anything.", Mahinder replied.

"Yeah, well, the startup got acquired by this giant shipping company and they pulled back all their batteries from the consumer markets. They started using these batteries exclusively for their containers hauling goods across the world.", Madhu continued.

"Containers? Those giant ones? They run on batteries?!", asked Mahinder, surprised.

Madhu, patiently continued explaining, "Well, 20-30 years ago, in 2020s as mass protests started against major corporation to stop using fossil fuels. The Shipping industry was the most affected from those protests. They nearly brought the whole global trade to halt."

"Ohh, yeah I remember that, we were taught in school about it.", remembered Mahinder.

"Bingo! Heh, it seems like you were paying attention to history lessons after all. Yes, so they were looking for alternatives and were trying different things for long time. Until one of the company came across this battery and this startup about 5 years ago and they aggressively acquired the startup. It was one of biggest exits of an African tech company. The shipping firm pulled back all the batteries sold in consumer market, there weren't many actually. And since then, these batteries are just used with those ships and it is crazy hard to get one. You should see bidding wars which goes on EBay for these batteries. I wonder how Parmanand Ji didn't realize it.", explained Madhu.

"Oh they had so many complains on how they were not able to get rid of this battery. No one was ready to repair it or even take if off of them.", replied Mahinder

"Until you showed up today. Ohh man, this is so good."

Madhu was really excited about the prospects of the battery. She had a spark in her eyes.

Mahinder, picking up on Madhu's excitement, said, "Is it? How so? Do you think we can charge it?"

"We can put together something to hook it up.", replied Madhu.

Mahinder: Hook it up? It wasn't going beyond 20-30% charge on power supply Parmanad Ji had. We don't even have one third of their capacity. How will we charge it?", answered Mahinder a little concerned.

Madhu said, "Well, I didn't say it would be easy."

"But still, hook it up to what?" asked Mahinder.

"Lightning!" replied Madhu².

Mahinder noticed faint smell of cooked food and spices floating around. His stomach growled. He looked sheepishly at Madhu, she was quick to notice and shifted topic:

मधु(गरररर!!!): भूख लगी हे ना? सुबह कितना कहा था, कुछ खा लो, पर नहीं, वो जा है, सब तयार था, बस दो मिनट लगते, पर नहीं।

Madhu: lets eat….

Mahinder jumped to his feet. They quickly wrapped up their lunch. As the day was progressing into the afternoon, it was getting hotter. Today it will easily cross 48 degree along with Scorching hot winds(लू). Madhinder was right when he had complained about the deserted city. People have shifted their work and public life in early mornings and late night. Afternoon is too brutal to step out

After the lunch, they both cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for the bed.

Madhu woke up at around 6:30 in the evening from some noise coming from the shed. Mahinder was missing from the bed. She washed her face and slowly walked towards their shed.

Mahinder didn't sleep at all. He was too excited by the prospects of the Battery, Simba™. He tried to sleep for a while and after tossing around for an hour, excitement got better of him. He quietly slipped out of the bed, brought out their lifter from the shed, mounted the battery on it and rolled it back to the shed. There he set the battery on the turntable and made sure that it was able to carry the weight and rotate freely. He put up 6 cameras around the turntable which covered all the angles of the battery.

Mahinder started a Hi-Definition 3D-scan of the battery for his software tool MisTree. Using it, Mahinder could disassemble the battery and understand its different components. MisTree³ also gave an Augmented layout over real device with instructions to take apart the device. He searched for Simba™ models and found a VR walk through. It was in Russian language. He figured he didn't need instructions as long as he is able to follow the visual cues, understand the specifics, interact with the model, finish the tasks involved to take it apart and get idea of the tool set needed.

As Mahinder finished the VR walk through, he got some quick and deep realizations about build and functioning of the battery. For a start, he will have to "mod" his screwdriver to make it work with Simba™. Further, because of material used, once taken apart it can't be assembled back as neatly as it is in current form. As a drop of sweat rolled down his back, Mahinder got a bit nervous thinking about how Madhu would react.

He continued. Soon he was using hot-blower to melt the plastic adhesives and exposing the guts of the battery. Now came the working of the battery. It was made of two components, one was a HUGE capacitor and second one was regular battery. Battery had ratings of 96kWh/day. Something which should be able to support average house requirements for a week. This battery unit could be charged directly by connecting it to mains supply or to solar unit. Or, if the capacitor was charged it will charge the battery as it drained.

Capacitor was really an interesting bit. Mahinder tried to jump start the capacitor unit with his own, fully charged, 32kW battery. The capacitor's charging LED blinked and went dead in just a second. Huh, strange, Mahinder thought. He rechecked his own battery and it was completely drained. He looked at status of the battery unit of Simba™, it was getting charged.

As Mahinder was experimenting with these things, Madhu walked in.

Madhu: You took it apart ehh….

मधु: खोल दिया इसको….

Mahinder: Smiling, shrugged a bit.

Madhu: If you mess it up we can be missing out on big opportunity.

मधु: यार, इसमें कुछ गडबड़ हो गई ना, तो बहुत ही अच्छा मौका निकल जाएगा हाथ से।

Mahinder: Yeah, I realized that while going through the VR walk through and looking at the numbers.

महिन्दर: हां, समझा मुझे…. वो VR में दिख रहे थे numbers.

Madhu: Yes, if we manage to charge it correctly, for our house, and even more, we won't need electricity supply from grid, atleast for an year.

मधु: हां, अपन ने अगर इसको ढ़ंग से charge कर लिया तो कम से कम साल भर की बिजली कि सारी जरुरत का इंतजाम हो जाएगा।

Mahinder Nodded.

महिन्दर, सहमती में सर हिला रहा था।

Madhu: That too with all our modified energy hogging instruments, kitchen, cooling, washing, cleaning, all requirements of our shed, which we use to charge our and customers battery. We can keep our shed open even in this burning afternoon.

मधु: अपने सारे भुक्कड़ equipment के लिये भी। रसोई, AC, घोना, सफाई, गरेज, सब के लिये। अपन तो दिन की गरमी में भी अपनी दुकान पे काम कर पाएंगे….

Mahinder was getting excited hearing at the prospects.

महिन्दर मन ही मन बहुत उतावला हो रहा था ये सब सुन के।

Madhu: That too from lightning, for free. Imagine.

मधु: सोच यार, बिजली से वो भी…. बिना किसी खरचे के।

Madhu: But we will have to do it right.

मधु: पर सही से करना होगा, वरना, फिर वही ……

Mahinder: Yes. True that. We will have to see how to get this capacitor charged up and understand how to hook it up. I was looking into that only.

महिन्दर: हां यार, सही कहा, इस capacitor का functionality थोडा ताबे(control) में आ जाए तो सब set हे। मैं वही देख रहा था।

Madhu agreed. They decided that Madhu will look up into connectors and setup needed for the Capacitor and Mahinder will continue trying out things with it, trail and error. But more carefully.

Madhu started her own computer, took out her headphones, started some good tunes which can help her focus and started poring through journals, manuals and spec sheets to dig out details. Mahinder went to look for some high capacity adaptor. He was thinking of connecting the capacitor with Mains supply and see what happens.

In couple of hours, Mahinder was ready with his setup for next round of experiments. He had put together enough precautions that things don't blow up. Madhu also made good progress and was able to zero down into exact requirements for hooking up capacitor. They both did one more sync for update each other with their progress.

Madhu: So, it seems we will need some really high end metals.

मधु: यार इसमे तो बहुत high end metals लागेंगे…

Mahinder: Like?

महिन्दर: जेसे?

Madhu: Gold and Silver for start⁴. :facepalm:

मधु(सर पकडते हुए): जेसे, सोना, चांदी….⁴

Mahinder: Listening to them got started with song, ना मांगु सोना चांदी…

Madhu was not impressed. Not a bit.

मधु थोडा सा खिजिया गई।

Madhu abhorred jewellery. Specially for all the hype around them. She made a point by abandoning them at all points. It was also an active fault-line between MML(Madhu's Mother in Law) and her.

मधु को इन से सख्त नफरत थी, सोना, चांदी, गहने, सब…. वो और उसकी सासु मां के बीच ये एक ज्वलनशील मुद्दा था। उसकी सासु को इन चीजों से कुछ ज्यादा ही लगाव था।

Madhu: Well, we will use pure, high capacity copper cable but for connecting that cable to our capacity we will need Silver. Something like those grounding pole which runs wire made from this material through its length and is connected to capacitor at one end of it.

Mahinder: We will have to arrange for copper wire, but arranging for silver, gold is altogether different logistic problem.

Madhu: I agree.

They both were thinking and Mahinder shifted to explaining his setup to madhu. He showed the adaptor, cables and their load capacity and connected them to capacitor.

Madhu: Umm, I don't think these cables will be able to carry the load.

Mahinder: Lets try.

Madhu didn't agree, she grunted a bit but didn't say anything.

Mahinder felt encouraged.

As soon as he switched on, there was a big fluctuation. All remaining devices switched off, lights were flickering, there was a burning smell coming from the adaptor and soon there were spark and socket where adaptor was connected blew up. As circuit disconnected, remaining devices resumed working normally.

Bahuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Both Mahinder and Madhu heard the loud blaming voice of MML. Madhu grunted and Mahinder smiled sheepishly.

Suddenly Madhu grinned and she had a spark in her eyes. Mahinder was confused.

Madhu(Muhuhuhahaha): I know where we can get our heavy metals.

Mahinder(Confused): कहां से?

Madhu: From your Mother(तुम्हारी मम्मी से।).

Mahinder: Errmm…. now it was his turn to get worried.

Madhu and Mahinder continued talking.

Madhu said, "It's not just the cable, the whole setup involves unique challenges. Cables and material needed for them is just one part of it."

Mahinder asked, "How so?".

Madhu continued, "First of all, that lightning carries, millions of volts and 20-30 thousand amperes or even more"

Mahinder was surprised, "Wow, that high current. That would melt away steel or any kind of material."

Madhu asserted, "Exactly. But, it is very short timed. The whole load lasts for milliseconds."

Mahinder "Aaah, that makes sense. That's why the earthing system we install don't burn up on every strike."

Madhu, "Yes".

Mahinder, "But lightning strikes are very random right? Can we actually direct it in someway towards the battery? Lets say the shipping companies have all the fancy setup with all cables, still how would they get lightning to strike on their cable connected to the battery?"

Madhu, "That again is another part of setup we will have to take care of"

Mahinder was listening.

Madhu, "What I am able to gather so far is, bottom line, lightning can't be controlled".

Mahinder, confused, "Well, then all this is like a wild goose chase?"

Madhu, "Hear me out. Yes, it can't be controlled. But we can significantly increase our chances of trapping a strike."

Mahinder, "Ohh, how significant?"

Madhu, "Again, I don't have exact number, I am still reading and learning about this stuff myself."

Mahinder, "Yeah, that's not an issue. We can sort out the logistics as we get better understanding, but still…"

Madhu, "Okay, let me first tell you what would be needed. Then we can decide if we want to do this at all".

Mahinder agreed "Fair enough".

Madhu, "First thing, the grounding system, which protects houses from lightnings. They are not meant to attract the lightning, they decreases the chances of lightning".

Mahinder, "Aaah, yes. They don't let charge build up".

Madhu, "Correct.".

Mahinder, "So, we won't be able to have this setup at our house itself. Given that everyone installs this system, effectively whole area is contributing to minimising the chances of a lightning strike.".

Madhu became ecstatic, "Exactly, and not just that, given that the setup for Simba increases the chances of a strike, there are legal restriction of setting it in populated area.".

Mahinder was surprised, "What? There is a law around it?"

Madhu, "Yeah, even I was surprised when I read about it".

Mahinder started thinking again, "Ohhh interesting. So umm we will set it up somewhere remote and open. And that way, given there won't be other buildings or structures, the setup will have decent chance of catching one of those strikes. Aaah, Now I understand what you meant when you said increasing the chances."

Madhu, "Again, yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. We can have decent opportunity of getting this to work. If we can find such a place that is."

Mahinder suggested, "How about the Sam(Sand dunes of Jaisalmer)?"

Madhu had doubts, "They could be a good place, yes, but it would be a logistic nightmare."

Mahinder wanted to explain more his suggestion, "No, wait, think about it. We have dust-storm(aandhi, आंघी ही आंधी) season coming up, in week or so. It is off season, there won't be anyone in Sam. Place is literally deserted. Only Dunes and the storm. We setup Simba and charging unit there. Bring it back if and when we get lucky, before people(tourists or others) start movement in Sam."

Madhu tried to present her argument, "But we won't be able to just walk there with this battery. We will need to carry it and the setup. It is remote, yes, there won't be other people to disrupt things, yes. But there are no roads leading to the Sam. We will have to find a decent dune which has good height and climb on top of it with all these equipment."

Mahinder jumped to another suggestion, "We can take my father's hybrid Thar Jeep? It has four wheel drive. It is meant to climb those dunes."

Madhu cautioned Mahinder, "Well the four wheel drive won't work unless the battery of jeep is completely charged. And our stock of diesel is almost over."

Mahinder again tried to convince her, "We can pull this off. One way journey. This could be our only chance of having good, reliable, free, long lasting, good power source. We take the setup, jeep, charged and with diesel. Till we hit the dunes we run it on battery, as we start going off the road, we shift to diesel. We leave the jeep and complete setup there and get it back when things work out."

Madhu again trying to convince Mahinder of the risks involved, "I understand, it sounds possible but think. We might not be able to bring Jeep back if this doesn't work out. And there can be risks of theft. We will have some expensive material involved in the setup."

Mahinder was all in. He knew about the risks involved but the things he was risking weren't exactly helping them in improving their quality of life. They are considered of value but not to Mahinder. For him, this opportunity was rare and it can help a lot in their day to day life. Maybe for year if not months. He finally spoke, "Yaar Madhu, yes, risks are involved. But I trust you more than the odds. For long we have worked hard. There are unknowns, we will figure them out, together. But please, lets do this."

Madhu was excited, she felt this rush going through her. She knew about the challenges but at that moment they all appeared solvable. She said, "Got it. So, no room for doubt. Lets give it our best shot. We need this and lets get it."

They both hugged(shook hand?). There was a moment of calmness. And Madhu broke it, "First up, the heist, lets rob MML of her useless jewellery."

Mahinder chuckled on hearing it.

Mahinder and Madhu talked about how to convince Madhu's MML and came up with a strategy.

Madhu walked in to MML's room….

MML(accusingly): What happened?

Madhu: Main supply tripped. Mahinder was trying to charge a new battery.

MML: Ohh, is this battery for us or for some customer? Is it any good?

Madhu: Maa, the battery is really good. Its for us. It is really powerful and works for really long stretch on single charge.

MML: Nice, it would have cost a fortune no?

Madhu: Not exactly. Mahinder managed to get it for free.

MML: Free? How So?

Madhu: He went to Parmanand Ji's house for setting up new battery. They had this old one with them and were not able to figure out how to use it properly. Mahinder offered to take it and they agreed.

MML(Proudly): Nice…. Mahinder has a talent of spotting these valuable things.

Madhu(Jokingly): Yes. I remember how he spotted me in the meetup.

MML: Uff, I meant things which others don't understand or values.

Madhu: Yeah, that's what I said.

MML: Let it be. So, did the battery charge or what?

Madhu: Well, not exactly. As Mahinder connected it to mains supply, it tripped and we had to disconnect it.

MML: Ohh… So what will you do? Where is Mahinder?

Madhu: He is bringing us tea.

As she mentioned about tea, Mahinder walked in, balancing three cups of tea and some snacks on the tray and managing to open the door on his own. Madhu rose, she held the door open as he walked in.

Mahinder(excitedly): Here, this will refresh you in minutes :)

MML: AAahh, I can smell cardamom, this looks nice.

Madhu: Mahinder, you make an excellent tea.

MML felt proud about the fact. Mahinder and Madhu sat together on the cot across MML. They all started drinking the tea and snacks from the bowl.

Madhu(continuing): Its hard to charge this battery. We won't be able to use our mains supply and we will need special setup.

MML(Talking to Mahinder): How good is the battery?

Mahinder(looking at Madhu): I initially didn't know exactly how good it is. But Madhu gave me background and seems they alone can run big ships.

MML(curious): And Madhu is saying it runs a lot on single charge.

Mahinder: Yes. Compared to ship our requirements are very low so we can keep using this battery for months or even a year on single charge, with all our devices running all the time.

MML(getting excited): You mean we won't have these load shedding while washing, pumping water, cooking and all?

Mahinder: Nope.

MML: Goooood, very good Mahinder. She was feeling very proud of Mahinder's work.

Madhu: but we will have to get it charged.

MML: I am sure you two can sort it out.

Mahinder: Well, sort of..

MML: What happened? Is there any problem?

Madhu: The special setup I was talking about earlier.

MML: Yeah, what about it?

Mahinder: We would be needing special wires.

MML: yes of course, you are saying battery can run for so long. Get those cables.

Madhu: That's the thing. For main wire, we will need copper wire of specific dimensions. But to connect them together and to the nbattery we will need specific material.

MML: What material?

MML(sipping her tea and staring in the cup): What kind of material?

Mahinder(talking into the cup, avoiding eye contact): Umm… Gold, Silver.

MML was surprised, "Sockets and cables, made out of Gold and Silver?"

Mahinder replied in confirmation, "Yes. As I said, traditional soldering won't work, it can leak the load, we are talking millions of volts and thousands of Amperes. I just tripped our house supply, trying to do without it."

MML: Ohh.

MML: But where will you get gold or silver?

Mahinder: Umm, we were thinking of using jewellery.

MML: But Madhu doesn't have any. She never wanted them. Right Madhu?

Madhu nodded.

Mahinder: We were thinking of using your jewellery.

MML: You were thinking what?!

Mahinder: ….

MML: that you can have mine? Are you nuts? You will make wires out of my jewellery?

Mahinder tried to justify, "That's our only source…"

MML was really furious, "Yes, Sure. First both of you don't respect traditions and mock and ridicule me for keeping these century old, good for nothing artifacts. And today, you just don't ask for them, you are suggesting that we make goddamn wires from them?" MML folded Her hands, "I beg you, I am ready to live without AC or other comforts. This fan will work for me. I just have few years left with me. Why bother with these comforts. You don't care or need these jewellery of mine or other traditions, that's fine too, burn them with me when you are giving me the Tilanjali(setting her dead body on fire). But make wire out of them? NO THANK YOU."

MML started sobbing. Mahinder and Madhu got really nervous about this.

Madhu spoke softly, "Maa, sorry for suggesting that. We didn't mean it that way."

Mahinder was shaking his head on realizing how wrong their whole pitch had gone.

Madhu continued talking to MML, "We understand how important these jewellery are to you. And me not having them is not about not respecting our traditions and culture. Personally it is simply convenient and easier without them. We know that they are meant for special occasions and festivals and they are also our security for the rough times."

"Then how can you even think that they should be used this way?" MML further asked,

"Our comforts and better living conditions, that's the only thing we wanted, for you and for us." Madhu replied.

"We won't melt these jewelries, they are too precious and they are so rich with all the memories and moments attached to them. Maybe just give them as security for getting wires made from raw content. We don't even need wires for long. Just for the setup and if it works out we return everything. I will make sure once this thing gets over we get them back." asserted Madhu.

Mahinder again tried to summarize reason behind his idea, "Here is the thing Maa, we are struggling and suffering."

MML again asserted her stand replying, "Yes beta, you don't need to remind me that. I am pretty sure you notice my shouts. My repeated calls are not meant for myself. But, don't confuse them with entitlement. I have suffered and struggled. How do you think we reached our current condition with the resources we had. My suffering taught me patience and to work harder."

Mahinder replied, "Yes, exactly, I know how hard you have worked to make us both what we are today."

Madhu got confused by the word "we" in Mahinder's reply. But she kept her quite and kept starring at the pattern of the floor tiles. She realized that this is more between the mother and her son.

Mahinder continued, "And we are working as best as we can. We all are. Please don't consider this, 'ask for help' as something we are taking lightly. We realize how much they mean to you and us. As Madhu said, they have been with us from generation now."

MML was starting to understand where Madhu and Mahinder were coming from.

Mahinder further said, "Sorry that we came across that way. All we wanted was better living. You deserve that. You know we won't splurge. You have taught us how to use all the available resources. It is just sad that despite all the work and efforts we put in, we struggle with bare minimum essentials. Clean water to drink, air to breath, cooling in this unbearable summer, the list is never ending. All of this, all of it, needs electricity, that's just how it is. We don't have access to best of the appliances so here, this battery, that can give us such a good buffer for months. We can fix most of our things, without worrying about supply, tune them for the time when battery runs out and we have to use main supply again. This could be our only chance to realize that without selling our kidney."

MML suddenly replied, "WTF!!, why are you talking about selling kidney. What is going on here?"

"No no, we are not. I was just giving an example." Mahinder tried to explain.

But it was too late, suddenly MML's concern for kids overtook her attachment to the jewellery. She said, "Don't be a fool. Don't ever think about doing such a thing and don't ever try to make any point using such a language. Idiots. You need jewellery, here is the locker key, go get them. Madhu, take care of this hot headed for me, he won't listen to me." MML reached out to her pocket and fetched her locker keys.

Madhu and Mahinder both were relieved and excited about this sudden change in the mood and sentiment. They couldn't believe they got lucky this way. Mahinder gestured to Madhu with his eyes to take the key.

Madhu while taking the keys replied, "Don't worry maa we are not doing anything like that."

"And we will bring back all our jewellery intact, in no time. "She assured MML.

MML joined her, "Yes, our jewellery. It is ours. Not mine. This is how family works as a unit as a team. Now go on, start working."

Mahinder and Madhu assessed their timeline. They looked for predictions from the weather department on the upcoming storm, it showed 87% chances in the 3rd week of April. They will have to hurry to put together everything they can within the next couple of weeks. They scoured through the maps of Sam to locate a good accessible position for their Jig. Mahinder took charge of the arrangement of the commute to the location, putting together a remote control and surveillance setup for their Jig. Madhu was responsible for researching "lightning trapper", making a prototype that they could test in their garage, improve the design and scale it up for the final version, one which can eat those lightning strikes and not burp. Mahinder would assist her with finishing touches and refining. They both decided to reach out to Multan Bhaisaab for their special wires only when they had their working prototype. That way, they will have a better idea of exact specifications.

Madhu looked through research papers in the domain. There were few research labs associated with the shipping company which manufactured Simba, the battery. Other labs that worked in the domain of lightning were working on how to properly ground them and avoid damages to crucial infrastructure. For prototype, she first built a Van de Graaff generator(VdG). It was the closest thing she can use to simulate what happens during lightning. She tried to reproduce a couple of papers. They didn't work out of box for her. While she was doing this she live-streaming her experiments, findings and, learning. Soon she got university professors and students following her actively and giving her more references and suggestions on what to try.

Mahinder on his part went to the district ADM and secured a permit for setting up a temporary observatory for dust storms in Sam. He opened up the last half of his 4 wheel drive jeep and made space for the Jig. He put together a mini solar-powered unit and connected video camera and hologram projection unit with it. With a video link, they will have a good idea about the situation on the ground. With hologram projection, he thought if will help in situations when someone is trying to damage the setup for stealing or something else. He camouflaged the Jeep by painting it so that it doesn't attract unwanted attention in the dunes.

They both kept on pairing over their work and helping each other out. Mahinder would ask Madhu for her comments and suggestions on what could be the final setup and include them in his work. Madhu got her work reviewed from Mahinder. For her, technical expertise and insight of Mahinder were really helpful. Furthermore, Mahinder was good with cleaning up things, rewiring, soldering and improving on her prototype. Many times when they didn't have time for in person pairing over the work, she would leave notes for him. Explaining what she had done, where she got stuck and pointers for him to improve. One such day as Mahinder was looking through Madhu's work and her notes, It appeared to him that she had got something working. He cleaned up some of her solderings, made sure that movement in the motors was working smoothly and it was not stuttering. The initial prototype resembled a flower, with some flaps opening and exposing a metallic hemisphere in the middle with a strong circular magnet at the bottom of it. As the structure opened it also rose. He was not sure of the final functionality of it.

Finally, as they got some time to work together in-person, Mahinder was barely containing his excitement to see things working. Madhu briefed him about the physics behind the structure and roles of different parts. He nodded heavily while she was explaining and wanted her to shift to the demo part.

Madhu also realized that, "Okay, lets get started" and started walking towards her VdG generator.

Mahinder was excited "Yes please, sparks!!".

Madhu turned on the VdG, "So, we know what is a lightning strike, right?"

Mahinder agreed, "Yes, the charge keeps building up till the time air around it can't hold it anymore."

Madhu was tempted to correct him but contained herself, "Yes, more or less, that is correct."

Madhu brought a different metallic sphere which was grounded close to VdG and there was a crackling sound, "See, there, lightning strikes are essentially similar to these sparks, just with a punch."

Mahinder acknowledged, "Heh that is a nice way to put it."

Madhu now picked up an iron nail and brought it close to VdG and the sparks stop, "And this is how grounding works. It essentially provides a path for the charge to flow to earth and see as I bring the nail close to VdG sphere, no more sparks."

Mahinder replied, "That's where your flower, err…. device comes into picture."

Madhu was irritated a bit by the comment but continued with her demo, "Hopefully yes. With help of good Samaritans spread across internet we have something. Now watch this."

She started her device and it unfolded. "So, we just saw how these grounded nails are spoilsports for our little sparks, right?"

Mahinder nodded. Madhu continued, "Now watch this, even with this nail around the VdG as we start our device, and…."

Suddenly there was a louder crackling noise and BIG spark between VdG to Madhu's flower, errr… device.

Mahinder was startled and jumped to his feet, "Holy…… wtf was that. Damn."

Madhu started laughing at Mahinder's reaction. "Heh, easy there, don't worry."

Mahinder calmed down and started asking questions "Are you alright? How did those tiny funny sparks become this BIG?"

Madhu chuckled, "Calm down Mehndu. I am alright. See". She gestured from her hands towards herself.

Mahinder continued asking, "How, what, How?"

Madhu, "Heh. Silly, I explained everything to you a while ago. But you were not paying any attention".

Mahinder smiled sheepishly and spoke while scratching his head, "It was getting a bit too technical. I wasn't prepared for the intensity of this."

Madhu tried to simplify everything into a one line, "Basically with the magnet and these additional sheets", she pointed towards petal like metal strips, "We create a field which sort of holds the charge and eventually it converts into a spark."

Mahinder was very convinced by the demo, "Woohooo…. congratulation Madhu we did it. You did it."

Madhu smiled back, "WE did it."

Now Mahinder started wondering about how will they convert this prototype into the final version that they will use. "How will we scale this?"

Madhu replied, "Most of the material we are using for this prototype are easily available. So structure wise we will just make this bigger".

Mahinder, "And which parts are tricky?".

Madhu answered, "The Magnet part and connecting it to our battery. For this contained environment the magnet was strong enough. Out there, in open we just can't build something like this."

Mahinder, "So how do we do it?"

Madhu replied, "I was thinking of making solonoid and connect it with our solar panel."

Mahinder: "But we won't have that strong a current to create a strong magnet."

Madhu: "I know."

Mahinder: "Fine, lets hook it up with Simba also. That would help a bit."

Madhu: "Ah, yes. That would help for sure."

Mahinder: "What about wiring? How do we connect this with Simba?"

Madhu: "That's where either we use really good quality thick copper wire or wire made from the jewellery."

Mahinder: "Are you sure copper wire will work fine?"

Madhu: "I think so. Theoretically it should be okay. I don't have means to test it out."

Mahinder: "How about we do couple of wiring, one with copper second one, thinner, but using silver."

Madhu: "And connect them both to Simba, right?"

Mahinder nodded.

Madhu: "Yes, that will be a good fallback option for us."

Mahinder: "Cool. Lets get started."

For next couple of days they both built a bigger version of the prototype Madhu had built. They tested it with her smaller VdG generator.

After testing it out, they both stood their figuring out their next move.

Mahinder: "Let us mount it on our Jeep. And I am thinking of bringing Maa on board for handling the remote control of it."

Madhu: "Maa? Really? Why?"

Mahinder: "Well, it won't be one or two day thing. We have some notifications enabled but I think we still need to keep an constant eye on it. And with our work and other things I don't think we can do that. Maa on other hand is mostly watching her TV anyway. She might as well keep an watch on this."

Madhu: "Well for one this won't be entertaining."

Mahinder winked at Madhu and said, "Agreed, but she has a personal stake in this".

Madhu: "Ohh man, this is just pure evil."

Mahinder: "Come on. Don't make me feel guilty about this."

They shifted everything on the Jeep and tested it once again. Later they both went to MML's room.

MML looked at all the cables and joysticks and asked Mahinder, "What is all this about Beta(Son?), updating the TV with more material?"

Mahinder took some time to realize how MML has confused the things he was holding. He clarified, "No no, Maa, these are remote controls for the Battery, remember we talked about it."

MML got more confused, "Why are you bringing it all here?"

Madhu pitched in, "We think you are most eligible candidate for this."

MML gesturing to all wires and controls Madhu and Mahinder were holding, "What? Beta, I have no clue about all these things."

Madhu tried to assure MML, "Don't worry Maa, you don't need to know technical details. We want someone monitoring things manually. Many times, in field, these remote sensors fail and we will miss out on something critical."

MML, "And you think I can make out what is critical or not? Am I speaking french here?"

Madhu sighed. Mahinder took over and replied, "Maa, as Madhu said, don't worry about details. Here, wait, let me walk you through this. It is very simple, this would be nothing for you. Trust us."

Madhu hurriedly started connecting MML's TV with control feeds. Mahinder did a sanity check on joystick he was carrying and looking at the feed on his mobile. He approached MML to explain.

As there was life feed on MML's TV, Mahinder started, "See, here, its that easy. Just like any your other channel. You see our Jeep right?". MML nodded. Mahinder continued, "Here, take this joystick, this is just like you TV remote, but for the Battery and its setup."

MML hesitated a bit. Madhu took the remote from Mahinder and sat next to MML and started explaining, "Look Maa, its tad easy. You see our jeep on the screen?". Maa again nodded. "See, this is how you move the camera and …". She pushed a button and feed started shifting. MML felt comfortable and took the joystick. "Aah, I see it. I get it. And what does this button do?". She pressed a button and holographic projection appeared on the bonnet of the jeep and started speaking something about observatory. MML got spooked a bit and shouted, "What, what is that?"

Mahinder explained, "No, no Maa, nothing is wrong. This is just a simple scarecrow kind of thing we installed. To scare away the wanderers. It gets triggered when someone comes too close to the Jeep or it can be triggered from this Joystick, like you did."

MML replied in approval, "aah, I see. Nice, interesting. How will it stop? Should I press it again?"

Mahinder encouraged her to give it a try and she did, indeed it worked. Both Mahinder and Madhu felt a bit confident. MML was also started exploring on her own and questioning things more openly. "What's that battery status on the top?", MML pointed to the top right corner of the screen.

Madhu answered, "We are using solar panel to power this remote control thingy. It shows the battery and health of that."

MML acknowledged and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly a keystroke turned the TV screen blank. MML got alarmed and worried, "Hai Ram, this time its broken for real."

Mahinder took the joystick from MML and after trying out something replied, "No no, that's just a, ummm how to say, that was a glitch. System is alright". As he said that the TV screen started showing the feed again. Mahinder assured MML, "See, there."

MML felt relief as TV started showing things but suddenly it dawned to her that she would be responsible for operating it. The thought triggered her "What? What should I see? What happened? Why did it stop? How did it start again?".

Mahinder was on defence and tried to explain, "We are still fixing a few things".

MML got more irritated, "What games are you playing here Mehndu. On one hand you both are claiming these big things and here I can't even work with your system. Are you actually serious about this?".

Mahinder was flushed and embarrassed. Madhu pitched in, "Of-course Maa please don't doubt out commitment. We wanted to get an idea of how would you handle it. Don't worry, we are not putting this in SAM in this state. We still have a few days before the storm season starts. We will fix all these faults"

MML gave in reluctantly and warned them both, "I won't be a part of this if you don't do it properly. Please get it fixed before you come here next time".

Madhu and Mahinder disconnected and wrapped up everything and tip toed their way out of MML's room. MML kept on murmuring something to herself. They both felt dejected after their first round. And it took a few more humiliating interaction before they were able to convince MML that they were ready. She pushed them really hard and made sure everything which they were claiming was working as they were claiming.

After all these rounds, MML now knew entire system thoroughly. MML made sure that she knew the functionalities of the all the knobs she was given and understood of all the figures she was seeing on the video feed.

As the storm season closed they all settled to something which they knew was their best bet. One late night, Madhu and Mahinder took their blessings from MML. Hooked MML's screen to system and asked her to start things when they gave her the call from the location where they will put the setup. Mahinder and Madhu drove their Jeep through the city and a while on highway and then went off the route into the dunes. As they finally reached their location they called MML. She booted system from her room. As the mounted camera rotated, both Mahinder and Madhu waved at it excitedly. They both instructed MML to test few things. Once they confirmed that everything was working they both hiked their way through the dunes back to the city.

While both of them had worked their ass off for today, they were not feeling a sense of accomplishment. They both knew that if the system failed to catch a lightning strike all of this will be for nothing. And there was a threat of the setup being stolen which was even more worse. They both walked back to home in silence, without talking with concerns of their own.

Dust storm was approaching the city as Madhu and Mahinder entered the house.

Madhu: "Holy. It already started."

Mahinder: "Quick, we should hurry up and close all the open windows. Cleaning after this would be a nightmare."

For a brief moment as they rushed to pack the house they forgot all about the battery, jeep and everything. They finished up and sat on Sofa. They were hearing voices of strong winds swaying trees and other random things, windows, doors were rattling. Mahinder was reminded of the battery.

Mahinder cried out loudly, "Fook, the battery."

They both rushed to MML's room.

MML was already on it. She was looking at the feed and confirming all functionality was intact.

MML heard Madhu and Mahinder enter the room, "There you are. What took you so long?"

Mahinder, "Maa, it is quite a distance to walk back."

MML, "No worries, now that you are here. See."

She pushed a button and the setup unfolded. "I am just deploying things to make sure we don't miss out on this storm. Both the batteries, Simba and one connected to Solar panel are fully charged right now. Things seems to be stable."

Madhu, "Does the forecast also talk about thunderstorm?"

Mahinder replied, "You never know about these ones. Sometimes they are dry, just dust and winds and sometimes they have thunderstorm addons. Forecast talked about 40% chances."

Madhu, "We need all the chances we can get."

MML, "I will keep this setup deployed for whole duration. Winds are picking up, now they 40kmph. She pointed towards reading from wind sensor. Humidity is still low, 10%, let us see what we get."

All three of them kept staring at the screen. Experimenting with things. Winds were strong but there was no sign of rain or thunder. Before they realized they had spent more than an hour observing.

Madhu noticed the time, "Darn, I am getting later for breakfast. I won't be able to continue this."

Mahinder also added, "Ohh right, I am also late. I have unfinished work too. Maa, would you be alright handling this alone?"

MML, "The storm is also almost over. So far this has not given me any trouble. I will call you if something happens. You go, carry on."

Madhu and Mahinder both went back to their work. They both were a bit happy that MML can handle it and also got more doubtful about the success of the project. There were too many things at play.

They all gathered in MML's room at tea and talked a bit about how did it go, what sucked, what could have been better.

Madhu, "Today was just dust and winds."

MML, "Yeah. there were hardly any clouds."

Mahinder, "I am worried if this dust would screw up the mechanics of the machine."

They kept on drinking their tea in silence.

For next few days, whenever there was a storm, they would try to be together and monitor things. So far their experiment had survived five to six storms, only dust, no clouds or thunder. Solar panel was working perfectly and remaining of the machine too. The location had almost no human movement. There were few foxes or deer who wandered close and MML spooked them real nice with the Holographic projection. By now, they all were confident that even if project doesn't succeed it won't be plundered by the strangers.

In next week the forecast mentioned about clouds, drizzle and even hailstorm. MML was alone when first storm with clouds and rain came. There was not much to do, just remotely open up the structure, start the magnet and keep a watch. She saw some lightning strikes in the camera feed but they were really far from their setup.

Madhu checked in with MML, "Maa, today there were rains."

MML, "Yeah beta, but nothing for us. We stayed high and dry."

Madhu, "One of these days….. fingers crossed."

MML, "lets hope so."

With next few storms, fine dune sand and sporadic rains started knocking out controls of the setup. As mahinder had shared his concern initially, mechanics of opening up of the structures failed. Now it just remained open all the time, battery status sensor and, other controls followed one by one. Eventually, just the camera feed was working. But MML was relentless, she kept her watch.

During one of their tea session they again reviewed their situation.

Madhu spoke softly "Soon Monsoon will start. People will start moving in that region for farming, tourist camp outs and things."

Mahinder agreed, "I think this is it. We tried. Good thing is, setup is intact we should go and bring everything back."

MML tried to encourage both of them, "You did good. Don't sulk about the result. Action counts and matters." She quoted Geeta,

"कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन्। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते संगोस्त्वकर्मणि।।"

आपको कर्म करने का अधिकार है, परन्तु फल पाने का नहीं।

They decided to get their equipment back over the coming weekend. Despite support from MML, Madhu and Mahinder's morale was really down. They had worked hard on it. Madhu struggled a lot. Some days she had trouble sleeping. One such afternoon she was alone in the bed and having some bad nightmares. She was hearing random voices calling her out. There was a loud bang on the door of their room. She woke up suddenly to realize MML was indeed calling her out.

"Madhuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, Badhuuuuuuuuuuuu."

Madhu was slowly coming to her full senses, "Yes Maa? What happened?"

MML still talking from the door of the room, "Madhu… are you alright? I am calling you from last half an hour."

Madhu, "Yes Maa, I am alright, I was just sleeping and didn't hear you. Do you want something?"

MML slowly turned and started walking back to her room, "Come to my room quickly, your project just got hit by something."

Madhu rushed ahead of MML to see what happened.

MML followed, "I am not sure if it is still happening. But I recorded it. Wait I will show you."

MML navigated to stored recording sections and pulled out a clip. It was from about an hour ago. "This storm started and then I saw a big flash."

Madhu confirmed, "Did the flash hit our structure in the Jeep?"

MML, "I don't know exactly where it hit but here, take a look."

MML started the clip and Madhu saw it too. In between the dust, winds there was a really bright flash and everything shook.

Madhu still didn't believe it, she looked at MML, "Maa, I am not sure what happened there, did it actually work?"

MML replied, "You watch more."

Madhu started fast forwarding the clip, "Did something else also happened?"

she saw atleast five to six more such flashes hit the structure.

Madhu, "Wohhaaa…… we got hit so many times???"

MML, "Seems like it."

Madhu, "Did it work? Did our battery get charged? What does this mean? One strike I can understand but so many?"

MML, "The battery won't charge more?"

Madhu, "I don't know. I didn't know lighting strikes same more than once. This is even more insane."

MML, "Call Mahinder, go and fetch it. Weather has cooled down a bit after the storm."

Madhu called Mahinder, he was at client's place. They decided to go their together. He started from his work and Madhu from house to meet at common point and continue from there.

On their way they kept on speculating what would have happened and what will they find.

Madhu, "I am worried Mehndu, 5-6 are too many daaa, everything would be roasted."

Mahinder, "Comeon Madhu yaar, don't be that negative, Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We will reach there soon."

They reached a nearby dune from where they could see the Jeep. Nothing was roasted, structure stood there. After so many dust storms Jeep was almost buried in sand from one side.

Madhu, "Shit. We will have to dig it out."

Mahinder, "That and all we will figure out. First lets see what happened to battery."

They both started rushing to the Jeep. Jeep was on top of a dune. They were climbing the dune, slowly, treading the sinking ever moving sand, heads down.

Madhu touched Mahinder's hand and pointed towards a buckle of her bag pack, "Mehndu, look…." The metallic buckle was gliding in air, as if something was pulling it.

Mahinder replied, "The magnet. Its powered."

Madhu was excited, "From the battery? Our battery got charged?"

They again started rushing towards the Jeep. This time faster, almost jumping on the sand. Mahinder reached the Jeep first, nearly out of breath he shouted to Madhu, "Madhu….. it is charged!! It worked…. come fast.."

He climbed down the dune a bit to give her a hand.

They both reached the Jeep, dusted the setup checked battery status and it was indeed fully charged.

Madhu, "I can't believe this. How like this means yaar."

Mahinder, "Are you ready to test it out? We should connect the battery to our Jeep and see how it fairs. For the start, lets see if it can dig us out from all this sand."

Madhu nodded. And they both started wrapping up things. Suddenly Madhu remembered MML, "Should we call Maa?"

Mahinder tried to avoid it, while continuing the work he replied, "We will call her when the Jeep starts moving."

Madhu reminded Mahinder, "She can see us in the camera feed."

Mahinder blankly looked at the camera and had the realization. He stuck out his tongue, "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about this". They both waved at camera and showed thumbs up sign.

They both resumed wrapping up things. Mahinder dug out some sand, they connected battery to Jeep and started it. Mahinder neatly maneuvered front and rear wheel drive controls to slowly free up the tyres. Jeep showed no sign of missing out on battery power. Mahinder made the observation, "Madhu yaar, we hit the jackpot, that too 5 times."

Madhu smiled back. She was really happy how this turned out, "I think after first strike this Magnet got decent current flow from battery and that's why we got remaining of strikes."

Mahinder corrected himself, "Yes, correct, one jackpot."

Once they wrapped up everything and tucked them into the Jeep, they drove the Jeep slowly through the dunes, back to the Home. Once they reached home, they connected main line of the house to the battery. Everything kept humming and running. Mahinder nodded to Madhu, "Lets see how much it can carry", and they started turning on their lathe machine, nothing. No glitch. Usually lights flickered and adjusted to lower brightness, this time, they just kept flowing.

Mahinder, "Do we have some dirty laundry?"

Madhu chuckled, "We always do".

They filled up their washing machine, set load to heavy wash, started it, again, no glitch.

Madhu, "This is good…. What else we can try?"

Mahinder, "Lets charge these batteries?"

Madhu, "Yes, good idea."

Mahinder and Madhu connected five to six discharged batteries for charging, one by one and they all started charging, one by one.

"All this and more…. .. Its like having our own oil well in 20th century. We are new Shaikhs.." Madhu made an observation.

Mahinder, "lets share this update with Maa."

They both left their shed and went to MML's room.

MML, "What took you so long? You had all the time to wave and what not but not for a small call?"

Mahinder, "Arey Maa….. stop worrying, please, not now. This is not the right time."

MML, "So now we have a set time when we should worry?"

Madhu, "Maa, we got the battery charged! We were testing things to make sure everything is working fine."

MML, "Ohh. Did it get charged? Was everything okay there?"

Mahinder, "Yes it did. We got it charged big time. We got back everything that we had put there. Did you notice anything with your AC, or TV? Any glitch?"

MML, "I didn't, should I have?"

Mahinder, "Usually with all the tests we just did, our cooling would have died off, but, not now, not today, not tomorrow, not this week, not in this month…"

MML, "You are just pulling my leg. I don't believe you."

Mahinder replied smilingly, "Don't worry Maa, you will believe me when you get habitual of this. Trust me, it is much better and very addictive".

Just at that moment, MML's stomach growled.

Madhu, "Ohh, you seem hungry. Sorry it took us this long."

MML, "No worries beta. Take you time. You have been busy with work and everything else. Just.."

She hesitated.

Madhu, "What happened Maa?"

MML, "Can we have some fresh, hot chapati?"

"For sure!" exclaimed Madhu as both Mahinder and Madhu started walking towards the kitchen.

1. https://electrek.co/2017/12/04/all-electric-cargo-ship-battery-china/
2. A mod (short for "modification") is an alteration by players or fan of a video game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mod_(video_gaming)
3. How a Capacitor works in a circuit / Both in AC & DC current https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_tKUDBDSn0
4. Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/lightning/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_voltage
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_start_(vehicle)
7. A fault line is a long crack in the surface of the earth. Earthquakes usually occur along fault lines. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fault-line
8. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/silver-and-the-manhattan-project.17554/
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzZ3aJqmT-M 3.6 volts 1000 amps transformer Vs 10mm steel bar
10. High Voltage, High Current, lethal,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMiJ3zQF4cI
11. Lightning Rods That Prevent Lightning Strikes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjg7LsSZ1tI
12. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/65825/does-a-lightning-rod-prevent-lightning-strikes Does a lightning rod prevent lightning strikes?
13. Empire state building: lightning strikes thrice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKMdYbOfFzI
14. https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/lightning8.htm
15. Lightning in Super Slow Motion
16. Conductivity of Silver ⁵
17. Silver⁴ usage in Manhattan Project
18. Manhattan Project ⁶
19. Power of lightning strike ²
20. High Capacity Conductors⁷
21. More stats around Voltage carried by a lightning strike ⁸
22. Lightning Infographics ⁹
23. Change in daily routine of population¹
24. VisTree³
25. Wind Turbines in BigHero6
26. SeaWorthy Wind Turbines: