BLIND-DATE ! 
"Hello! is this 9-9-4-1-double 5…?”
“Yeah! Madhu here, who is speaking?”
“Hello Madhu” the voice continued, “How are you?”
The voice had a deep affection in it, it was soft and attractive, and she spoke in a Cambridge accent. She sounded wonderful.
‘Fine thank you miss… hmm..”
Before I could complete she said, “Call me Akshara, Honey boy.”
“I know nobody named Akshara”. “ I don’t think we have met or talked before. Have we?”
“We haven’t met before nor do you know me, but I know you are just mine honey boy”
Listen, I don’t like any stranger calling me in the middle of night, just nobody… am I clear?”
“Stranger?” with a little dramatic surprise she added, “I am no stranger, I am your sweetheart and you are my honeyboy”
“Is it a joke or something? Are you up to some kind of prank?”
“Love is no joke honey boy”
“Stop calling me that, you are irritating me.”
There was a silence for a minute or so, none of us uttered anything I could clearly hear the ticking on my wristwatch. It was half-past midnight; I was about to disconnect the line when; to my surprise she started singing the ‘Annie’s song’.
You fill up my senses,
Like a night in a forest,
Like a mountain in springtime,
Like a walk in the rain,
Like a storm in the desert,
Like a sleepy blue ocean,
You fill up my senses,
Come fill me again...
Come let me love you,
Let me give my life to you,
Let me drown in your laughter,
Let me die in your arms,
Let lay down beside you,
Let me always be with you,
Come let me love you,
Come love me …
It was queer, a young girl calling in the middle of the night and singing your favorite song. Suddenly, she stopped singing between the lines and hung up the telephone. I gave my telephone set a glance and unknowingly smiled… smiled over the few minutes.
I started thinking...
Who was she?
Why did she call me honey-boy?
Who told her about my most favorite song?”
Early in the morning the telephone rang. I was fast asleep and had no intension of waking up. But the telephone rings forced me. In the end I had to get up and answer the call. I tried hard to come to my senses and tried to understand what I heard.
I could not make head or tail of what I heard. The music began to play on the other end. It was the same song ‘Annie’s Song’ which the girl was singing yesterday. And soon she began too...
She was singing… singing endlessly in her sweet voice. The softness in her sweet voice made me hold on to the line. She was singing from the bottom of her heart and then suddenly she stopped and unexpectedly disconnected the line.
Just like another morning, I had to prepare my breakfast, it was for sure that I would be late to office today. I was thinking of taking leave.
The telephone rang again…
“Hello”
“Hello”, I repeated without receiving a reply. Only I could hear was my echo.
“Hello, who is it?”
“Hi, it’s me Akshara” she replied in a very low and soft voice.
“Akshara? Who Akshara?” I tried to be more direct this time.
She spoke nothing, then with a short pauses she uttered “I L-O-V-E You”
and said,
“I love you Madhu, from the bottom of my heart”.
"Madhu, someone needs your smile,
Your hug, your kisses, and your listening ear.
Someone needs encouragement
And gentle words of cheers.
Someone needs your affection
When one is feeling blue…
On the whole,
Someone needs your love to live.
And that ‘someone’ is me… it’s me… "
I love you, I love you, I love, you…
Each and every word spoken by her was piercing my heart like a sharp dagger. Her voice moved me. I felt something very unusual. And then she disconnected the line.
Now my curiosity was at its peak, I wanted to know her, I wanted to meet her, I wanted to know what she looked like. The train of thought ran into my mind. I was trying to imagine her. How is she?
… Maybe tall, slim lady with long hair, black eyes… Maybe a medium height lady with short curly hair… blue eyes… I imagined her with all kinds of combinations I could.
I simply could not stop thinking about it. I felt as if I was totally under her spell. She had spread all over my mind. It was certain that she had a crush on me. I thought hard to remember anyone named Akshara or someone having a voice like hers. I switched on the idiot box, surfed through the channels. Even the damn TV couldn’t get her out of my head.
The telephone began to ring again. Of sure it was Akshara again. I let it ring two three times and then patiently picked up the phone. I sad nothing
“Hello! Are you there?” Akshara inquired
“Hello! Honey boy, why don’t you speak with me?”
Coming directly to the point I asked her “I don’t know how you look. I want to meet you in person. Will you meet me?”
She was serious for a while; she didn’t expect that, at last she replied. “Yes! Anything for you sweetheart”
“How about having dinner at ‘Benjarong’, Alwarpet?”
“Fine, I will be there at 8:30 sharp.” She replied softly
I gazed at the clock it was half past ten. It left a lot of time for me to get perfectly ready for the evening blind date
Benjarong was a few kilometers away from my residence. I reached there half–an–hour early. Reserved the best table for a romantic candlelight dinner and waited for my date to be with me.
It was almost 8:40 when a beautiful young lady wearing a blue stunning dress entered. Her beauty caused a crisis in my vocabulary. She stood there motionless and her eyes were looking for someone; someone but me. I left the table and approached her with a dozen pink roses. She was looking like a fairy from a fairyland. And in her eyes her heart lay clear. She was the most beautiful lady I have ever seen in the world.
“Good evening Akshara, you are looking gorgeous”
“Thank you very much, she replied with a smile.
“I am sorry, I didn’t recognize you, Mr … err…”
It’s me! Madhu, your honey boy, I said dramatically.
“What! She looked shocked, she didn’t believe me, she had a very enigmatic look on her face”
“Didn’t you ring me today and agreed for a date tonight” I defended.
“Yeah! But you are not Madhu”
I was shocked, shocked to death. And with a red face I said.
“For your kind information you dialed my number & disturbed me in the middle of the night followed by 2-3 calls thought the day & now you say it’s not me”.
She opened her small elegant purse and handed me a snap. A snap of someone eho looked a supermodel. “He is my Madhu!” she said. My number was written across the photograph.
It was a faux pas. It was a wrong number; the calls were not for me but for ‘someone’ else. She didn’t know what to say. She was embarrassed. And so was I.
She said, “I’m sorry for troubling you. Mr Madhu, it was my mistake”. She stood there motionless for a while and left in embarrassment with tears in her eyes.
I didn’t stop her. I couldn’t. How could I?
I looked at her walking towards her car and saw her go till she was out of sight. Never ever did I see her again; never ever did she call again. I would have been very lucky even if she had called again by mistake. I never heard her tender voice again.
As months past by I got over the embarrassing situation, and even laughed a lot whenever I passed the restaurant Benjarong
There were many other things to think of. I had erased the incident from my active mind.
Until…
One day…
The phone rang…
“Hello Sweetheart, this is Sneha…”
As I heard the voice speaking, I looked into the mirror and unknowingly groaned
“OH! NO... NOT AGAIN”.
____
_Madhu_____AKA_____
Fr3ndZFollow me @ --- >https://www.facebook.com/01madhu
Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:16 pm by tjp
Subject: Blind Date 