Lost and Found: A Phone and a Puppy !

My friend Murali is right now enjoying a road trip of Badami, Aihole and Pattadakallu. He very often sneaks a holiday to Rajastan and then to Ladakh and then posts fantastic photos on Facebook; causing enormous heart burns.

We do go out on our own boys only annual sojourns. The process began in Kumarakom in 2005-06. Our last trip was to a fabulous sea-side resort at Kundapur where Murali, Vineeth, Jaganmohan, Chetan and Me became part of one unforgettable experience in terms of the quality of the time we spent together. Recollecting all that we did is material good enough for a serial. Here I will stick it to the "Lost and Found" story !

The Fabulous Five on the Fun-tastic Island !

The five of us began our journey from Murali's mansion in Moodabidre on 26 December 2011. By late noon we were at the resort after a lavish lunch, the highlight of which was the Chicken ghee roast for the carnivores and Paneer ghee roast for me.

Later in the evening, we were getting ready to go to the beach for the Sunset. Suddenly Cheti declared, "I have lost my phone and I don't know where I have left it !". Now here was a real problem. He had given this number to all his contacts even though he had another mobile.

The immediate call was to his service provider. They advised him to lodge a Police complaint about the lost phone. Lucky for us, there was a Police station just a few paces from our resort. So off he went with Murali to lodge the complaint. Completing some of the formalities and getting a photostat copy of the complaint after registering it took some of our time. The Sun refused to wait for us at the beach and he was on his way down when we started.

On our way to the beach, Cheti had a call and he was all excited as he shouted, "Oho, so you got it ? But where ? Yes ? Aha, Wonderful ! Where was it ? Oh, those rowdy boys ? Fantastic ! Now what will you do ? Get the big fellow from the hospital and go and bring it back. Okay, call me on THIS phone only. And now get going straightaway".

We were wondering, "How on earth did his cousin trace his phone in Kanakapura, which he had lost in Kundapur ?". Murali who was driving asked, "Hey goof, how did the phone go there ?". Cheti was too excited and shouted, "Not the phone yaar, it is the Puppy. We had a beautiful Pomeranian puppy. He had a black dot exactly at the center his forehead and he was with us for about 2 months and then was lost. We searched him all over the place and did everything. But there was no use. Now some neighborhood boys have seen him with another man, who claims to have bought it for Rs. 2000. I am ready to pay that amount because my son is so attached to the puppy. He didn't eat for two days when the puppy was lost".

There was more talking over the phone. Cheti ordered his man Friday to gather a few people and use threat if necessary to retrieve the puppy. He then got the number of the person who owned the puppy and requested him, "Please Sir, whatever you have paid, I shall pay you but I need the puppy because my boy is so fond of it. We can show you the photographs of him" and he gave the description of the puppy to the man on the other side.

In reality, the owner of the puppy was the one who was complaining because Cheti's boys had already retrieved the puppy and he was in safe custody of Cheti's hospital staff. Finally the deal was struck and Cheti was a relieved man. He said, "Oh my God. 3 weeks we have suffered like anything and finally the puppy is back and I can't describe how happy I am. And my boy will be celebrating"

We were happy too for our friend and his boy. And I said, "What a day for you Cheti, you lost a phone but got back a puppy. Not bad at all !". Chethi replied, "Not at all Boss. I can get back the phone number any day. The handset was old and dated but the puppy is precious. I am so relieved now".

And then Murali had a call from his wife. He talked to her for some time and then finally declared, "The phone you lost in Kundapur has been found by my wife in our home.". This was a double whammy. Only problem before us now was whether to take the Police complaint back or not. We unanimously decided against going back to the Police because that would have meant another hour of our time lost.

All puppy endings will have a twist in the tail. So I never told Murali that the Turkey towel supposedly left by Cheti or Vineeth in his guest room was actually mine !

PS: Almost 3 months since, this is the best I could remember from what happened that day. Guys, correct me where I am wrong !


Dr. Punned-it