Story of a Confused Five

A lovely couple living in my neighborhood, Mr. and Mrs. Iyengar are extensively travelled.  I love to visit them for three reasons – to eat the delicious dosa cooked by Mrs. Iyengar, to play with Riama, their 2 year old granddaughter, and to listen to their interesting travel stories. Being a travel enthusiast myself, I can spend hours talking to them.

A story narrated by them this time around was quite interesting, so I thought of sharing it. Here it goes…

“Red or Green?” asked Mrs. Iyengar, holding up two pairs of socks. “Green” Mr. Iyengar was about to say, when the shopkeeper muttered in broken English, “Madam, why no you buy both? I give discount.” Mr. Iyengar looked at the short, fat shopkeeper with the sharpest possible glare. The shopkeeper smiled in return.

Mr. Iyengar furrowed his eyebrows and shot a quick glance at the price tag. “200 bahts per pair! What is it, a magical Christmas sock?” he cried.

“Oh! Stop converting currency Mr. Iyengar. We are in Thailand, for heaven’s sake” said Mrs. Iyengar in a nonchalant tone.  “Besides, Riama would look adorable in these socks, wouldn’t she?”

Now, how could Mr. Iyengar counter argue that point? As always, Mrs. Iyengar got her way.

After loads of shopping and a sumptuous lunch, it was finally time to head back to the hotel, which was just a kilometer ahead. But, with hands full of shopping bags, walking was out of question. So, they hailed a Tuk-Tuk.

“Where?” asked the driver.  Mr. Iyengar murmured the hotel address “Ha, Royal Street.” The driver could not hear clearly, so he turned around his head and asked again“Where?”

Mrs. Iyengar spoke this time, stressing on the Ha, more than necessary. “Ha..Ha Royal Street.”

Soon, they were on their way to the hotel. Mr. Iyengar closed his eyes and started listening to music. Mrs. Iyengar, who was usually observant of the surroundings, was engrossed in her own thoughts today. She was already imagining her lovely granddaughter dressed in the newly bought clothes.

After five minutes or so, Mr. Iyengar felt a hand rapidly shaking his wrist. He quickly opened his eyes, to find Mrs. Iyengar looking at him with a frantic expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a concerned tone.

Mrs. Iyengar whispered in his ear “This driver is taking us the wrong way. This does not look like a familiar place to me.”

Mr. Iyengar took off the earphones and looked around. “Yes, you are right,” he agreed.

He was about to check with the driver when Mrs. Iyengar stopped him. “Do you think this would be the best idea? What if he is a thug or something worse? We don’t want to alert him. Let us call our tour guide first.”

Mr. Iyengar agreed. He quickly took out his mobile and called the tour guide.

“Hello”, greeted a polite voice on the other end.

“Hello, Mr. Kumar. Mr. Iyengar on the line.”

“Oh, Hello Sir. How is the shopping going?” Mr. Kumar enquired.

Mr. Iyengar immediately got to the point. “We finished shopping a while back and are on our way to the hotel. As per your instructions, we told the tuk-tuk driver the correct address. But, it has been more than 10 minutes and we are still on our way. The surroundings seem rather unfamiliar. We suspect that this driver is taking us the wrong way.”

“Can you describe the area, any landmark that caught your eye perhaps?” asked Mr. Kumar in a worried tone.

Mr. Iyengar peeped out of the tuk-tuk and spoke again “Umm..I can see a big garden and Benito restaurant.”

After a moment of silence, Mr. Kumar figured out the confusion and burst into laughter.“Mr. Iyengar, did you by any chance say the word Ha twice?”

Mr. Iyengar thought for a moment and spoke again, “I suppose my wife might have. Why? Does that change the address?”

“Yes. It does", said Mr. Kumar. “It seems to me that the driver is taking you to the 55th street instead of 5th street.”

“Does Ha mean five and Ha Ha mean fifty-five?” asked Mr. Iyengar in an incredulous tone.

“Yes sir” replied Mr. Kumar.

“Well in that case, I better correct the address, before the driver takes us any further. Thanks a lot Mr. Kumar. We will see you in sometime” said Mr. Iyengar and hung up the call. He looked at Mrs. Iyengar, shook his head and then cleared the confusion with the driver.

Soon they reached the hotel, safely, with gifts, souvenirs and a story to share back home.