Recently my friend called me from India one day in an evening about 8 pm and asked me to call him back immediately. When I realised that the time is already 8 pm here , it may be around 1 am in India and if someone has to make a call at this time, the matter would be serious! I agreed to call him without any hesitation! I went to one of the Srilankan shops nearby and bought a calling card. That is how I make my telephone calls to India. With a £3.00 card you can talk up to 100 minutes! That is not bad at all.
My worst fear was whether something went badly wrong for some of my friends or family? I was bit panicking.
"Hello..it's me..Is there anything urgent..?"
"No..!" answer came from the other end.
My streached nerves came straight!
"Okay.. I was bit scared because of this timing of your call..!"
"Oh.. that..! I am now in Munnar..attending a conference on wild life and they have given me a room in a guest house. Then I thought of you and gave you a ring..!"
About 15 years ago we together attended a similar kind of conference and that was the reason for his call.
"That is perfectly understandable.." I thought.
Then we had a long chat and the subjects were covering almost everything of our mutual interest.
My card was for about 100 minutes and I wanted to finish it off with this call itself. If I keep it for any other calls, some minutes will be taken away from it by the card company! It happened to me many times!
"Please don't ask me to stop..Let the card finish by itself.." I requested to my friend.
He might have thought that it was a mistake to call me in the first place..! I could sense the loss of his initial enthusiasm. He might have felt very sleepy towards the end!
"What was the book you read last?"
He asked me.
"Me..?"
"Yes.."
What was the book I read last..? I thought.
I couldn't remember reading any books recently!
What a pity!
I soon realised that I was not reading any books at all for years other than the medical books!
"Sorry.. I can't remember...!"
I told him apologetically! I did not want to continue that conversation any further! But then something amazing happened...!
The card came to my rescue..!
"You have no credits available to make this call..!" The computer recorded voice..! The line was cut off immediately!
What a great relief..!
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