The -3 and -4 deg C Baltimore temp. dulls my spirit, despite the best protection provided by my children. Most of the day time, I spend sleeping if not, eating. Consequently nights turn a nightmare !
Lying on the bed with a heater near my bed , I keep meddling with my iPhone and iPad much against the instruction from Meghana.
In my half-asleep, half- awake condition, I click on wrong letters on the keypad and on wrong icons on the FaceTime screen. One such mistake lead me to a bad start and a happy ending.
My wrong click on the video icon intended for a Fb friend Kavitha, unintentionally went to Savittha , another friend who was not a fan of my face or what I write. She had , sometime ago vowed not to look at my face again when I made a comment on her photo in the Facebook,’ ‘your grand daughter will look more appealing in the salwar kameez you’re wearing !’ . It was unnecessary for me to have made that insipid ,irritating remarks though BTW what I wrote was true. I didn’t expect a 70 plus orthodox woman in that dress but it was her choice and it was none of my concern. Had I used the accepted phrases such as ‘amazing’ ‘unbelievable’ etc , I would have been appreciated.
The moment I realized my wrong handling and was about to turn off the camera with a polite ‘sorry madam’, her husband peeped into the camera and I shouted in excitement of meeting an old friend , ‘oh, Ramu, you ? What a surprise! And you look much younger to your age and your face hasn’t lost the sheen of our college days ‘ . No old man of nearly my age or a few decades younger can have a shining face and my exclamation was due to my excitement of meeting a classmate unexpectedly though on the camera. But , Savitha madam didn’t take it so light. She screamed : you intruded into my privacy and now insulting me?’
‘Insulting you, how, mami?’, politely I responded.
Her husband had a hearty laugh . He was really on cloud 9 realizing that he looks young, a truth he was not aware of but had to be told by an old friend.
‘Where is Parvathi, your girl friend, Ramu?’ I enquired. My intention was only to know the whereabouts of another classmate.
Before he could reply, mami looked at his face in anger and asked,
‘Nghaa! you had a girl friend too! Now I know why you are getting up at night and going to the kitchen ! To call you girl friend surreptitiously. Right?’
‘’Savi, at night I feel chewing some peanuts or biscuits’
‘I don’t trust your words’ His wife vowed . ‘Now on, I will never trust you ‘
Then, turning to me she said, ‘ mama, please tell me all about your friend ‘s college days. I should decide my future course of action’
I was in trouble. ‘Future course of action! What it could be? I worried. Anytime Megh could enter in and ask me why I was still with my iPhone. Or it could be even my son. It is not a good habit chatting with Facebook friends at late night hours, that too within a fortnight after an eye surgery.
‘Mami, I feel terribly sleepy. Can I call you the moment I get up tomorrow and share all I know about Ramu’s college days ? . Where is Ramu? Let me say good bye to him ‘
‘He is snoring! See, he is least interested in chatting with you though you old friends , are seeing each other’s face after long time . And see me, I’m interested to continue our chat though your call was an intrusion into my privacy’
‘Easwaro rakshathu ‘ God save me! In fact He saved me.