Kabab ki Haddi

The Best Buddy

As Shruti got out of the lift, her phone started ringing. Having her hands full, with the grocery she had bought on the way, she couldn’t pick it up until she opened her door and dumped it inside.

“Hello?”

               There was no answer. She thought it got disconnected, so she gave an annoyed look to the phone. Nope, it was still on. And then she saw the red flash of call ended blinking. Confused she checked the number; it was a new number, unknown. She was used to getting calls from unknown numbers; it usually ended up being a new client or some XYZ bank offering a loan or credit card.

       She contemplated whether to call back or wait, deciding that she’ll call back once she put her grocery in place, she picked up the two heavy bags and dragged her foot steps towards the kitchen. As soon as she reached the kitchen, the phone rang again; she rushed to pick it up, the same number!

      She picked it up by the third ring, “Hello”… Again she was greeted by silence.”Hi there? Are you gonna talk”

“Is that Love Guru?” a male voice squeaked. Though she hated the term, she was used to being called by different aliases by her clients some of them being, Guru,gurudev, Kabab Ki Haddi, Agony Aunt ( or some who were considerate called her Agony Sister/Amy)and as this one had uttered Love guru. Her favorite was Kabab ki Haddi, because she believed there was no need for a third person in a relationship of Two, but sometimes you need a haddi to reinvent the kebab and make it palatable.

Now it was his turn to be flummoxed by the silence, “Hello?” “Peep peep peep” (maybe some buttons he pressed) “HELLOOO”

Shruti took a deep breath and replied” Yeah, you got it right. The name’s Shruti “

“Ohh! I thought it disconnected. I actually was expecting a guy...err…it would have be more comfortable. My friend Avi aka Avinash gave me your number.”

          She remembered Avinash, one of her successful cases. He had sent her a bouquet of flower and her favorite box of chocolates to celebrate his Love. She smiled at the memory. Nice guy. “Don’t worry; I am as good as any guy. So you would like to have my advice?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of complicated.” He replied.

” Everything nowadays is.” Shruti assured.

There was silence for some time. Then Shruti spoke,

“Do me a favor, I’ll send you my mail id, send me your case details, pardon me for calling it a case but that makes it easy for further reference. A photograph of you and the girl in question, it helps in making the strategy. And don’t worry all the information is confidential and will be only between you and me.”

  “Okay.” He sounded relieved. As if, he got a whole new lease of time to think over the stupidity he’s going to commit. “I’ll do that asap.”

“Cool” said Shruti now concentration on the grocery placement.

“Er…when do I hear from you?” I mean when do I call back?”

“Good question. I’ll call you back. Latest, by tomorrow morning. Provided you send the details by today evening. Take care. Have a nice day” Shruti disconnected the phone before he could ask her further questions.

      She never liked giving false hopes, until she knew the case well. But it sounded interesting. “Let’s see” she said out aloud. As she clicked the save contact option on her phone, she realized she forgot to ask his name. She saved it as “Avinash’s friend” planning to change it later, once she went thru the mail.