Now this is something really new!
It was fairly a wonderful and refreshing holiday in Mumbai last week; helping parents with their business, enjoying the home porch, the garden, the swing, act of breaking coconuts, meeting friends at the alumni meet and what not. Phew! Come Saturday and I realized I had to join office on Monday. Office? Truly boring after a joyful week, isn’t it? Anyway, quickly, I picked up the phone and called one of my colleagues, Harish, to check out what was going in the office. This would have prepared me, both mentally and physically, to resume the office. What happened next will definitely entertain you as much as it amused me. :-)
Saturday, 1910 hrs, Home, Mumbai
As I mentioned, I had called Harish. The phone rang and a soft, effeminate voice from the other end saying “Hello” bewildered me. Harish stays alone in Bangalore and unfortunately has no girl friends. :-) So it was kind of unexpected for me to hear a female voice. But you never know; anything can happen in seconds. Hey, that reminds me of TATA DOCOMO advertisement and the charming girls in it. :) As I said, life is full of surprises, so I continued, “Hello, can I speak to Harish?” On that, I got a response like, “Hey Chetan, this is Harish only. Didn’t you recognize my voice?” A bit of thinking made me conclude that this was some kind of trick on me. So I started laughing and said, “Please give the phone to Harish, I know this is some kind of ploy to annoy me”. The reply that I got, frankly irritated me. It said, “Tell me Chetan, this is Harish only”. I was really furious on Harish now, as I had called him for something important and his behavior was irritating me. I banged the phone and never called him again. I got his call twice but I was so livid that I didn’t bother to pick it up. This was on Saturday.
Cut2: Monday Morning 10 AM, Office Cafeteria, Bangalore
Our team’s custom or rather habit is to gather in cafeteria for a cup of coffee and then start working. The same happened yesterday. I reached the canteen and sat on the table where the team was chatting. I was unhappy with Harish and didn’t want to speak to him. Just then, Shirish, one of my teammates said, “Chetan do you know this cool feature in Harish’s phone?” Harish again, Oh man! I said to myself, but remained neutral and pretended to listen. Shirish was talking about Harish’s new phone that had the ‘Voice Modulation’ feature where in one could adjust the voice between ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ and whatever you speak would come out in that voice. So if one enables the ‘Voice Modulation’ feature in ‘Female’, irrespective of your sex, the voice would be converted into a female one. “Cool”, I said. Harish added that he had changed the mode of operation inadvertently and was using the handset for a week making a joke of this uncommon but fantastic feature. “Tiiinnnn” a bell rang in my head and I could relate what would have happened on Saturday. It was Harish who must have been talking but because of the phone setting I could hear an unfamiliar but a cute female voice!
Funny! Interesting! Whatever you say!
For people interested in technology:
This is a Karbon, K series mobile phone. Picture below.
It was fairly a wonderful and refreshing holiday in Mumbai last week; helping parents with their business, enjoying the home porch, the garden, the swing, act of breaking coconuts, meeting friends at the alumni meet and what not. Phew! Come Saturday and I realized I had to join office on Monday. Office? Truly boring after a joyful week, isn’t it? Anyway, quickly, I picked up the phone and called one of my colleagues, Harish, to check out what was going in the office. This would have prepared me, both mentally and physically, to resume the office. What happened next will definitely entertain you as much as it amused me. :-)
Saturday, 1910 hrs, Home, Mumbai
As I mentioned, I had called Harish. The phone rang and a soft, effeminate voice from the other end saying “Hello” bewildered me. Harish stays alone in Bangalore and unfortunately has no girl friends. :-) So it was kind of unexpected for me to hear a female voice. But you never know; anything can happen in seconds. Hey, that reminds me of TATA DOCOMO advertisement and the charming girls in it. :) As I said, life is full of surprises, so I continued, “Hello, can I speak to Harish?” On that, I got a response like, “Hey Chetan, this is Harish only. Didn’t you recognize my voice?” A bit of thinking made me conclude that this was some kind of trick on me. So I started laughing and said, “Please give the phone to Harish, I know this is some kind of ploy to annoy me”. The reply that I got, frankly irritated me. It said, “Tell me Chetan, this is Harish only”. I was really furious on Harish now, as I had called him for something important and his behavior was irritating me. I banged the phone and never called him again. I got his call twice but I was so livid that I didn’t bother to pick it up. This was on Saturday.
Cut2: Monday Morning 10 AM, Office Cafeteria, Bangalore
Our team’s custom or rather habit is to gather in cafeteria for a cup of coffee and then start working. The same happened yesterday. I reached the canteen and sat on the table where the team was chatting. I was unhappy with Harish and didn’t want to speak to him. Just then, Shirish, one of my teammates said, “Chetan do you know this cool feature in Harish’s phone?” Harish again, Oh man! I said to myself, but remained neutral and pretended to listen. Shirish was talking about Harish’s new phone that had the ‘Voice Modulation’ feature where in one could adjust the voice between ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ and whatever you speak would come out in that voice. So if one enables the ‘Voice Modulation’ feature in ‘Female’, irrespective of your sex, the voice would be converted into a female one. “Cool”, I said. Harish added that he had changed the mode of operation inadvertently and was using the handset for a week making a joke of this uncommon but fantastic feature. “Tiiinnnn” a bell rang in my head and I could relate what would have happened on Saturday. It was Harish who must have been talking but because of the phone setting I could hear an unfamiliar but a cute female voice!
Funny! Interesting! Whatever you say!
For people interested in technology:
This is a Karbon, K series mobile phone. Picture below.
Picture taken by Chetan Giridhar
