Hello, Can I Speak To You?

"Hello"

"Hello Can I speak to you?"

"Ah. What? I mean… Whom do you want please?"

"I want you only.. Can I speak to you?"

"Hay! What’s this? Some kinda joke?"

"Nope… I am damn serious. Can I speak to you?"

"Do you know me? Am I supposed to know you?"

"Nope"

"Then?"

"You don’t know me… I don’t know you. Can I speak to you please?"

"Look Mister. If you don’t put the phone down now, I am gonna call the Protection Cell."

"Am I harassing you?"

"What do you call this? Romantic talk?"

"I am sorry… really sorry. I really wanted to talk to you. But it seems you are not comfortable with the idea. Sorry for bothering you."

"Come on! Tell me who are you"

"Nirmal… Nirmal Kumar Nekkanti."

"Ah? I don’t know any Nirmal?"

"I do know one Nirmal."

"Who?"

"Me!"

"Cha!"

"Never mind… That was a PJ"

"Oh God… you are crazy"

"Kinda… I agree. But I am harmless"

"….."

"Hello, you there?"

"Yep! What do you want to talk?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing?"

"Yep Nothing"

"Nirmal! Can I ask you a question?"

"By all means"

"Are you drunk?"

"If you classify having two shots of red Wine as being drunk, Yes I am drunk"

"Do you know my name?"

"Nope!"

"How did you get my number?"

"I was testing the random number generator of my brain"

"What the hell do you think you are up to?"

"I just wanna talk to you"

"Come on! You don’t even know my name"

"How can I unless you tell me what it is"

"Anjali Ramachandran. Are you satisfied now?"

"Why did you ask that question?"

"I know your kind of people. You call girls who are alone in the house and threaten them up."

"Why are you laughing?"

"You just told me your name, about your being alone in the house. You shouldn’t have disclosed these details to a stranger like me."

"Are you there, Anjali?"

"Yes. But you don’t know my address anyway"

"I know your telephone number Anjali and I know that there exists something called a Telephone Directory."

"Aye! Am I sounding that foolish? I know how hard it is to trace addresses using telephone numbers in a telephone directory"

"H15/G-1, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai –41"

"What?"

"Your address"

"How could you find it out?"

"From the web."

"Oh My God"

"Yep… Now you realize how easy it is to trap you?"

"Who are you Nirmal?"

"Don’t worry, I am not a bad guy."

"But why are you bothering me like this?"

"Am I bothering you?"

"Ah.. In a way Yes.. You should tell me why you are doing this"

"Hmm… OK Mademoiselle Anjali Ramachandran, I am a graduate student specializing in Psychology"

"So?"

"I am just experimenting on your reaction. How do people react if they get a call like this! You are my fifth guinea pig."

"How did the others react?"

"Two slammed the receiver. One said, ‘F$%^ off’ and one asked for my address."

"Did you give it?"

"You think so?"

"Nope"

"I didn’t"

"Clever"

"Elementary school knowledge"

"So what are your comments on the fifth one?"

"Some girls don’t have any faith in rules like – Never talk to strangers"

"And?"

"And… you enjoyed the talk very much."

"Me?"

"Admit it. You are still talking to me."

"Oh.. I just wanted to find out what is this all about"

"So you didn’t enjoy it?"

"Nope"

"You are lying"

"Come on"

"You are still talking"

"Ok.. Ok.. Yep.. I didn’t find the talk very boring."

"Another way of saying the same thing."

"So what? I enjoyed the talk… Now what next?"

"You are enjoying the talk. The talk is not yet over."

"What are you gonna talk about now?"

"About the great fact that beauty and brains don’t go together."

"Hay.. are you suggesting I am dumb?"

"There you go! Indirectly telling me that you’re beautiful!"

"You girls are always like this only. Want to be beautiful but don’t want to be clever."

"Oye Nirmal! I didn’t say I am beautiful."

"OK.. Leave it. One more observation."

"What?"

"You girls believe all cock and bull stories."

"What?"

"You believed readily when I said I was a psychology student experimenting on you"

"You’re not one?"

"I am a software engineer working for Infosys."

"God!"

"What?"

"I think I know you"

"You do?"

"You are not Venu… are you?"

"Fifteen minutes"

"Come again?"

"We have been talking for fifteen minutes now...and this is your first wise deduction."

"So you’re Venu"

"Yep"

"Why didn’t you tell it before?"

"Haven’t you had fun?"

"Yep.. I am still having fun. The talk is not yet over… <Laugh>"

"Ok.. now it is not that interesting. Gotta go anyway… Call you later."

"You are too much Venu… err… Nirmal Nekkanti. Bye"

"Bye"