"Exchange mates" (or sometimes called "The crossover")

“Hello...?”
“Hello”
“Hello... yeah...Hi! Is Ashvin* there?”
“Who?”
“Ashvin”
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“No.. There is no one called Ashvin here.. But is Balaji* there?”
“Duh...Who?”
“Balaji... Balaji”
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“No.... Bu....but... Excuse me.. is it 24758946?”
“No.. ...but is that number 24785987?”
“No....I am sorry, I think I dialed the wrong number....”
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“You dialed? I was the one who dialed”
“What? !”

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This was the very brief conversation I struck with a guy; with whom I was gonna share a brief part of my life. I am Arvind, 21 years. Every time I pick up my phone receiver, I hear this dude, talking over to his people. It was a cross talk. I receive calls and he answers them and vice versa. Now, you might of seen many many movies involving people falling in love with men/women they have never met or friends who meet ‘online’ or business transactions that happen behind dark corners ( here again the persons involved never see each other) or visually challenged guys having a buddy relationship and so on and so forth. But in the first time in the history of man-kind, here is a story about two friends who have never met or never intended to talk, but became friends!

It all started when the telephone department guys started digging a grave right in front of my house. The grave was meant to bury the telephone cable. The irony was - the phone is the one which dies, but the cable gets buried! After some 5 hours of ‘work’, the telephone guys disperse, after moaning the death of the telephone. 5 minutes later, I receive a call.

“24769437?”
“Yes”
“Sir.... we are calling from the telephone exchange department... Is your phone working properly?”
“Yes it is”
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This is probably the stupidest question one can ever ask. To call up a guy and ask if his phone is in good condition. I hear the calling bell and I see the telephone guys standing in my porch. I give them Rs.10 for their ‘service’.

I picked up the receiver to make a call to a friend. The phone rang.

It was at this point I received that call. The call that paved way for my friendship with Mr. Crosstalk. I used to get his calls and he used to get my calls and I used to listen him talk and he used to listen my talk and all the other possible permutations you can think off. One fateful day, as I was getting ready to go to my friends place, the phone rang. After all these days of experience, I could sense the mind of the caller, whether he wanted me to talk or Mr. Crosstalk to talk. After 5 rings the ringing stopped and I knew it was for the latter. Out of inquisitiveness I picked up the phone to listen ‘him’ talk. The birth of the inquisitiveness was because he had a row with his girl friend (I think) last night and I wanted to know if the fight still prolonged. I listened and stayed silent.

“...........and be very careful, I heard the roads are totally flooded”
“Yeah, I also heard that cars were getting washed away”
“Really?... It does sound dangerous!.. We better be careful”

At this point of time, I couldn’t control my curiosity and I blurted

“What happened?”
“Hello?... Oh is it you again, crosstalk?”
“Yeah, I am sorry.. but what happened?”
“Didn’t you know? Tsunami has struck dude!”
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I did know that there was guy next to my house called T.S.Mani, but who on earth was T.Su.Mani?

“T.Su.Mani? Who is that?”
“Hey! It is not T.Su.Mani.. It is Tsunami. A giant wave that has caused havoc in Chennai and is flooding our city”
“Are you serious?”
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“Yeah. Just turn on any channel on the TV. It’s the same news everywhere!”

And, this was how I came to know about tsunami. He had saved my life.

The next day, I picked up my phone and waited. Atlast! ........... I could hear him dialing! He had picked up his phone.
“Hello!! Crosstalk... We need to talk! “
“Hey crosstalk.. Why r you always there when I call? This is very important dude.. will talk to you later”
“No no.. wait...! i owe you one! Yesterday, you saved my life! I would have been a victim of tsunami, if you hadn’t warmed me about it!”
“Dude! That was nothing!”
“No, no... I am really thankful to you! We must meet!”
“Oh! Sure!”
“Where do you live?”
“Do you know ................?

Silence.....

I couldn’t hear anything. The phone was dead. I heard the calling bell ring. It was the telephone department guys. They had exhumed the grave. Someone had complained about their telephone being dead and these fellows had investigated this murder. And apparently, they had bought the dead back to life and closed the case. Now, they were standing to receive their allowance. I paid them Rs.10 and went in..........sad<>. I had lost a friend. I was feeling miserable, when the phone rang.
I rushed towards the phone, with my heart pregnant with high hopes of hearing my friend talk. I picked up the receiver.

“Crosstalk?”
“24769437?”
“Yes”
“Sir.... we are calling from the telephone exchange department... Is your phone working properly?”
“Yes it is”
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*Name changed to protect the identity.
PS: All the conversations in << >> were spoken by the real guys to which the call was being made.