My first opportunity at testing my skills at finding out the reasons for "fish dying in an aquarium" (the most common complaint from customers) came when the manager of Hotel Osborne in Calangute asked Ashok to come and examine their aquarium on the hotel premises. The fish were dying, he said. The owner of the hotel was a very good customer of Ashok's and so Ashok was keen to solve the problem. However as he could not go himself that day and did not wish to delay matters, he decided to send me instead. He gave me the manager's visiting card, directions to the hotel, some fish medicines and a pump to install in place of the old one which was defective and I was on my own. I was proud and happy that Ashok felt confident to entrust me with such an important job. I left in the evening for the hotel. I found it with no problem at all. It was a large hotel with lovely lawns and a swimming pool. I walked into the hotel proudly, with my head held high, and tried to act as if I were a very experienced fish doctor. I went and met the manager. He told me which fish had died. I searched for symptoms of disease but found none. I then realised that the problem was very simple and one that is very common: a case of overfeeding. Fish require food in proportion to their size but often people put more food than necessary into the tank. The extra food makes the water cloudy and polluted and this causes the fish to die. I cleaned the tanks, replaced the pump, checked the filters and showed the hotel staff how to feed the fish. I even managed to do some sales work by selling them some fish medicines which they could keep as standby and made a bill for them on the bill book that Ashok had given me. They seemed satisfied with my work and made me a cup of tea, which I didn't drink because I don't drink tea. After I had finished I couldn't wait to tell Ashok about my experience. During this period, I took the opportunity once to visit fish shops in Panjim which I had heard about but had not yet seen. The occasion came when my 3-gear cycle broke down and I needed to go to Panjim to get spares. I tried to persuade my mother to get them for me from Panjim since she went there often. She refused, saying that I should learn to do things on my own. That's when I thought of making a whole-day trip to Panjim to buy the spares, visit fish shops and also make a few purchases for Ashok. The next day, I accompanied my mum to Panjim where she showed me a few essential places and then left me on my own. I was a bit nervous but was determined to manage somehow. I first went to the Kamat restaurant to eat as I was hungry. I was amazed at how much it cost me to fill my stomach outside home! After that, I searched for a shop from where I could purchase silicone (Ashok's errand). After a lot of asking around I found the place. Then I looked for the cycle shop, found it quickly enough but discovered that the item I wanted was out of stock and would be available only the next week.