“Was there any calls for me, Ammalu?”
“From males or females?”
“That is not your problem. You give the name and I will somehow decipher the gender”
“One Gopi Krishna called”
“Gopi is her name and Krishna her husband’s ? Or was it a male with name Gopikrishna?'”
“No idea”
“Why didn’t you ask that person?”
“Recall your instruction: ‘don’t say a word if the caller is a female'”
“So, you knew it was a female”
“I didn’t. But mostly, the feminine voices come in for you, more frequently”
“Was she soft in her talk?’
“So, you have concluded that it was a ‘she’?”
“An innocent guess. Anyway, don’t worry. It might be our Kamalakshi”
“She is not ‘our’ Kamalakshi, might be yours. Anyway, it was not she who called.
She is in our backyard. I passed on your call to her. Ask her, who called”
“Why did you pass on my call to her?”
“Why not? She is our Kamakshi. Or your Kamakshi, to be precise”
“Ammalu, I have no other ‘akshies’, other than you.. Let it be clearly understood”
“So, I can ask the name if the next call is feminine?”
“Ammalu, don’t act that fast. Give me some time to think. ‘Give a single key, to your wife; not the whole bunch’ said my Guru”
“Poor SP! That single key is in the bunch and the bunch is with me!”
Ocala, Florida
March 24, 2015