This is an anecdote that amuses us every time we recollect our memories and talk about it with family or friends.

On a bright morning in Accra, as Manoj was about to leave for work the office car, a Toyota RAV4, would not start. There was no ignition sound other than a dead click. Manoj thought that the battery may be dead. He opened the engine hood and to his shock found that there was no battery in the car, even the cables connecting the battery to the circuits were gone. In a private house where the car was parked inside the compound that is guarded 24 hours, this sounded outrageous. The guard on duty was summoned and enquires started. We had been ignoring earlier instances of minor things missing from the compound but now Manoj decided to report it to the police as well as the security company. So, within an hour of this, a police complaint was made and supervisors from the security company got busy starting the enquiry. Both the police and the investigating officer from the security company took photos of the crime scene. Meanwhile Manoj requested the office admin to get a new battery and send another car with a jumper cable to drive him to work. Coincidentally the other car that was sent was also a RAV4 of the exact same model year. Manoj enthusiastically called for the guards to show them the battery in this car and how it was connected to the cables. As he opened the engine hood to look at…voila..there was no battery in this car too…and this was the car that had just driven in through the gate. You can imagine his dismay, what would it have been like.. the first reaction was – how is this possible?? In no time we found out  that the battery was hidden behind a panel as a part of engine design. It was hilarious and dumbfounding at the same time..how could we have missed seeing the battery. After realizing our mistake all we did was laughed and laughed and this became one of the most interesting stories of our time in Ghana. A full round of apologies were made to the guards, security company officials, police and the office staff for creating the confusion.