Memorable Birthday! with the "Anonymous Call"

Perils of the overconnected world

This is my first birthday when i received so many many birthday wishes over the internet and my mobile phone. The wishes came from friends, some of them in daily contact and the rest of them had just two days to send blips to each other.. My birthday and theirs.

Sometime in the noon i got a call from an unidentified number. The voice at the other end was that of an energetic girl who whined "Heyyyy wish you many happy returns of the day!!!" She sounded familiar to another friend of mine, but her number would have been identified by my phone. I was busy at work and did not have the heart to cut her short.. "Thank you so much dear", i told her as though she was my sister-in-law! The affection expressed was immediately reciprocated further and she said.."Hey Nagesh, i need your help in setting up speakers in my home.. Right now the interior works are on" ..

I was still going on with the conversation who i now designated mentally as UCO (Unidentified Calling Object) .. I discovered later that she was true flesh and blood.. but for that moment she was an object that emanated human voice with intelligence in it. I replied to her with my expert remarks about speaker setup and gadgetricks that i knew... but none of that helped me find her name.

You must be wondering what a fool i am for not having asked her name all this while!!! Actually it was a matter of "Time budget" . My mind immediately calculated... If i asked her she would throw up two likely situations:

a) She would fire me left right and center for being lazy in not saving her name and then reveal her identity... Time needed.. 15 minutes.

b) She would play the girls best game on Mankind - "Guess who?" - in the past i have been victim to this.. sometimes there have been girls who have called with a "Paichaan kaun??" agenda only to know that they dialled the wrong guy!... Time needed.. minimum 15 minutes.. till indefinite!!

I used my calculations to deduce on the busy working day that i had to use a pretence of knowing her. and be careful not to use a sentence that requires her name to be addressed... The call ended in 9 minutes!! Bravo Nagesh!

But guess what i spent more minutes now thinking .. woh kaun thi!!?? Who was she??

Necessity is the mother of invention.. regardless of the intention.. I messaged to that number asking.. "I am sorry you called sometime in the morning.. there is a bug in my phone and i cant find your name.. can you please message me back your name?"...

I guess the girl was time-budgetting too and alas! she happend to be a close friend who had changed her number and i hadn't updated the same on my phone

If she sees this blog .. i am done for.. meanwhile all my blog visitors.. make the best of the time till she manages to show me the stars!

Affectionately!

Post-bday Boy Nagesh

Birthday Gift to me from Varsha