Smoke without a fire ;-)

Have to write about a worrying experience I had on Tuesday evening.

I had put oil on heat for frying something. The oil was emitting some smoke. I wasn't too worried as the oil was a lot used and I just switched on the exhaust on high mode. But as as soon as I put the bittergourd I wanted to fry into the oil, the container just emitted a burst of smoke. Before I knew it, the fire alarm in the house started ringing (there was no fire anywhere, damn it! There are only electric stoves here!!). Sri immediately opened all the windows, switched the AC to full blast and opened the door. The alarm rang for about 5 times and then all was quiet...

Now my worries started. Will the fire department be coming? If so, will they accept that it was just a little bit of smoke? Will they fine us for a false alarm? Sri said they usually just take a signature saying there is no problem and they return, but he didn't have any experience of it either. I could see he was tensed (he even went near the parking lot to receive and send them back from there itself) and that made me even more nervous. After pacing and worrying for about 10-15 min, there was still no sign of any fire engine. I was surprised. I mean, if its a real fire situation, shouldn't the fire engine be coming within 10 min? Sri also agreed with me and said that they are probably not coming. Since the alarm didn't ring continuously and stopped almost immediately, I guess, they realized that it probably was not a fire.

Phew!! Anyways, I think I'll remember the ten tense minutes all my life (I've made sure of that by putting it here on my blog) :-D