I pride myself on the fact that I never make the same mistakes.
Unfortunately there seems to be infinite possible ways of falling over ones feet and rolling down into a quagmire of embarrassment, self pity and apologies.
Hopefully, just like early scientists who found that the speed of light is not infinity but some large bounded number, I shall find that the possible ways of making a fool of myself is not infinity but some large bounded number. (I seriously doubt this!)
Just the other day, after my Material Science Paper (read sentence 2 in this paragraph), I noted that I had several missed calls from a particular unknown number on my cell.
I was through with life (read sentence 1 in this paragraph and get trapped in an infinite loop until you see the connection!) and so I was already in a bad temper as I called back.
Suddenly I got a hindi speaking guy on the other end. I patiently waited for about 10 seconds until I became convinced that the guy had dialed a wrong number. He didn't seem to have a clue about why he had called my number or who I was. I put down the phone in disgust and called a friend. I was busy complaining about the exam paper when I counted NINE missed calls again from the same useless number!
I finally picked up the phone and yelled, "Aap kaun hain or aap kya chahate hain!" Again I got the same gibberish :(
Luckily (Or unluckily as we shall see later) Geeta came into my room. Observing my apoplectic countenance, she took the phone from me and asked the caller again as to what he wanted. I have no idea about what happened, but the next thing I heard Geeta saying very sweetly was (this was in hindi ofc) " If you call this number again, I shall phone the police station and register a complaint. GOT THAT??!!"
I took the phone back from her, proud of the way she had dealt with the poor fool. I was sure that I would never hear from that number again when just as she left, the phone started ringing. IT WAS THE SAME GODDAM NUMBER!
I picked up the call. This time the guy at the other end sounded desperate! He knew jolly well why he had called me up. "Mai Sisir ko Janta hoon" he sobbed. "Aap polic vaale ko is mein kaise layi?"
"sisir? Kaun sisir?"
"Arre! Main Urja Lab se hoon. Aap Sisir Jaantee hain na?"
I clutched the wall. Sisir is this guy in my department. Well DR-1 to be precise! And my caller was from the Urja Lab! That was the chief lab of the Deparment of Energy Science, IIT Bombay. And I was a student of the Department of Energy Science IIT Bombay!
I totally freaked out!!
The rest of my wing trooped into my room in awed silence as they heard my profuse apologies in Hindi! They later told me, they thought I was taking Arabic classes or something over the phone.
Luckily, I managed to convince the dude, that i wasn't going to call the police station and I knew who Sisir was. (Even I have no idea how I managed that! :P)
I still have no idea why he had called me in the first place though! :P
