It was just a normal day like every day, until I received a phone call. It was an unknown number, I was at a barber’s shop, so I didn’t pick it up. Later when I came out of the shop I called that number. The voice from the other side said, “Hey! Give the phone call to Dii, are you at home right now?” After listening to that voice I thought it was Shonty, a distant elder brother of mine. So I said “Yes, I can give the call, but I will need some time as I am in the market right now. I will connect with you within five minutes”.
As soon as I put the phone in my pocket, my mom called me, asking, “Where are you?” I said that I was in the market. She said, “Listen! Your cousin brother will call you within a few minutes, don’t let him know that you are at home, I said you went to college.” I said – “Okay!” I wasn’t sure why he would call me after so long, because he only calls when he wants anything from me, but I didn’t think much of it.
“Life has a way of throwing curveballs, and I was about to get hit with one”
I went home, and gave my phone to Dii, saying to her that Shonty wants to talk with you. An obvious question came from her, “Doesn’t he have my number? Or my phone is not working?” A ready-made answer was given by my brain, I said, “Maybe he has changed his number, as it is an unknown number that I just now saved in my phone.” She took my phone and called that number.
I went to my sister and aunt, asking them about the food that was being cooked. They were talking about the fish curry when Dii called me saying, “Hey! Who’s this? This is not Shonty check the number.” I said, “This is Shonty only, he is calling from a different number, give me the phone,” I took the phone and asked, “Uh…. hello? You are Shonty right?”. And then the plottwiist came, the voice from the other end said, “Hey Sonai Dada it’s me Rocky, now give the phone call to Pishi(My mom), you are at home only right?”
I just got a mini heart attack, all the time I was talking to the same person whom I was not supposed to reveal where I was. “Now… This is the time, to use my improvisation skills and I have to lie to him and lie convincingly.” I was thinking of all these when he said, “Hello? Are you there?” I quickly added, “Exactly! I am not there… um… I am in college, how can I give my phone to Mom… haha? You know right how busy I am with my academics and all these things…”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my sisters and my aunt looking at me with amused glances, and their faces were turned red from holding back laughter. He said, “But you said you are in the market… and within five minutes you are going to hand over the phone to Pishi…” Before he could finish I added, “Exactly!… you said ‘Pishi’ and I heard ‘Didi’, actually… let me explain…”
Meanwhile, everyone there was laughing and was amazed at how was I going to come out of that situation, and then I came out with a masterstroke. I said, “Areh! Do you know Raj?”. “No! Who’s he?”, he said. “Exactly! He is a junior of mine, and his elder sister is my batchmate, so I thought it was him instead of you because I heard ‘Didi’ instead of ‘Pishi’, and gave the phone to ‘Ritu’ who is his sister. Got it?”
He didn’t seem too suspicious. “But you said you are in the market… what about that?” – he asked.
I couldn’t hold anymore, then it was time to use Brahmastra – The Anger Power. I burst out into anger, “What do you mean? Can’t I have a marketplace near my college? We need some types of equipment to buy so I came here. What do you want you tell me? You are the one who changed the number, and I am supposed to know you. How many numbers do you have, either contact me through one or don’t…”
“Sorry sorry, I didn’t mean that, actually ‘Pishi’ asked me to call her so I did, but her phone was having some network issue so I called you. When you will be at home? I will call you at that time.” – he said. “I don’t know the exact time, I’ll call you don’t worry.” – I said, and hung up the call.
Suddenly everyone burst out into laughter, I was also blushing with smiles and laughs. My aunt could barely hold her breath as she spoke, “College? You didn’t get any other excuse?”
I couldn’t help it and I was also laughing at the whole situation. I explained to them the whole, that mom told me not to reveal that I was there at home, I misunderstood him with ‘Shonty’ and also heard ‘Dii’ instead of ‘Pishi’, then his voice was also changed as I mentioned earlier he only contacted if he needed anything, so it was a long time since we talked to each other, and I could not recognize his voice.
For the rest of the evening, the house was filled with giggles and teasing, saying “It was like a film, like how the actors lie in the scenes of any comedy movie”. I took it as a compliment and referred to ‘Akshay Kumar’ as this kind of situation can only be handled perfectly by him, with a pinch of humor that he delivers.
My mother later called me to ask about it; when she heard this story, she also couldn’t help but laugh.
Sometimes, life serves you ridiculous situations, and the only thing that you can do is giggle through it all. That day, a phone call would turn into that memory we’d keep and laugh at for years.
[Blackout? – Exactly!]
