Dead twice and yet alive !

                                                       Dead twice and yet alive !

               I am sure you would  have seen on your computer sometime or the other  a display such as,  “Your user name or password is wrong.”  It means to convey that “ you are not what you think you are!” One could hear similar  frightful announcements in our telephone network also something  like, the number you called has been placed temporarily out of service or, the cell phone you are trying to reach has been switched off. You ring up the same numbers after 5 minutes and the  persons concerned answers  with gusto. So, while you can take all these declarations with a pinch of salt, you can’t be your normal self if you read in the newspaper one fine morning that ‘your wife is dead'?

            Any husband would  howl shedding torrents of tears, won’t he?  Especially if he happens to be at an outstation at that hour? Most certainly he would rush to the airport or railway station to get back home at the fastest speed.  But if you read the same  news item while your wife is standing solidly by your side, you are likely  to shout at the newspaper  editor, “Oh, shut up, you idiot.  She is very much alive, dammit !”

             What would be the backlash  of your close friends or relatives when they sight such   a horrible obituary statement?  Relatives would ring up to know how it all happened. Friends may hesitate and in all probability would call at your house physically  to get to know all facts.  And when wifey herself opens the door for the visitor,  the caller would swoon for at least one minute.

             Recovering from it he may ask, “How come, I read a bad news in today’s paper about you.?”  My wife answered him, “Surely there must be one  more Chandra Jayakaran,  Suresh. The dead Chandra is not me..”

             My friend Suresh returned home with a great  joy  painted  on his face after a delicious cup of coffee.

             And  what  do you know, the print appeared  a second time a couple of days back in the obituary column.  Same name as my wife’s. But luckily, the advertiser had given the photograph of this Chandra Jayakaran. That was some consolation indeed.  And  understandably no one rang up this time.

            But a week later something extraordinary happened when wife and I had to attend a wedding reception.  Monty greeted us at the entrance  and for a moment stood silent like a statue. He was incommunicado too for a couple of minutes. Then he yelled out, “Ghost, ghost ..”  looking at my  wife.

            “What’s the matter, Monty?” I happened to ask. No answer came for a while.  Then words emerged  out then  in bits.  “ I  read… read… that  she ….  was…I mean… was …. dead.  How ……   come”?

            Without even waiting for my explanation, he drew close for a closer look of Chandra Jayakaran.  “Are you sure, you are Chandra Jayakaran?”

            Monty came to life only when wifey  spoke in clear words, “Sure I am Chandra Jayakaran and very much alive as well.”

            “So, the newspaper information is wrong, eh?”

           “Absolutely.  Did you see Chandra’s photograph in the  column?”

            “Oh yes, now I recall,” Monty said. “It was someone else’s photograph. But then why are there so many Chandra Jayakarans in Chennai city?  Same name and same spelling…?”

             I  simply  shrugged and towed Chandra Jayakaran into the hall to greet the newly married young couple.

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