767.

                This magical number is not the token number of Amitabh Bachan as a porter in the film “Deewar”. Not is it my number when I was serving my lifetime stretch in Tihar jail.

                Today we have to remember many numbers and forgetting any will cause considerable trouble. As soon as I landed in India after 1 year stint in USA I wanted to draw cash from the ATM but to my horror realised that I got my PIN digits mixed up. I had a personal number whilst in service and no document was valid unless I quoted the number correctly after my name. As a youngster I used to remember the six digit telephone numbers of several girlfriends without any problem. I used to remember the street numbers, flat numbers et al of those girls with consummate ease. With the advancing years my memory has been on the wane and landed me in several embarrassing problems and at wrong doors.  I therefore recorded this special number in my diary with all the care matching its significance.

                The magic of this number is comparable to the horizon where the sky and the land meet. This number signifies the point where the virtual and real worlds meet. It seems so close but in fact is so far and can be reached only by a lucky few. When I realised that I reached the point I and my spirits soared to the dizzy heights of the virtual world via cloud nine.

                This is the number given to me by Subbu aka “purefriendship” who spent so much time and effort to come all the way from Coimbatore to Visakhapatnam just to meet me. He said that I was the 767^th person from the virtual world that he had met in person. His trip to Visakhapatnam is even more fascinating than the number given by him. When he went to the Chennai Central to start his journey by Coramandel Express the train had arrived from Howrah three hours late and was empty. Not knowing this, he boarded the train, occupied the berth reserved for him, switched on the fan and quietly slipped into slumber. Unaware of this, the Station Master sent the train to the yard for a thorough clean up including a complete hosing down. Thanks to cleanliness drive launched by Lallu (this does not include spitting paan) the chaps in the yard hosed down the train and Subbu using high pressure jets. Poor Subbu for all his good intentions of visiting me was almost washed out of the train along with all you know what. Subbu resourceful and made of sterner stuff woke up just in time before getting washed out of the compartment and saved himself to tell us his tale with humour. The only redeeming feature of this almost wash out was that he emerged much cleaner and ten shades fairer. It seems that when he looked at himself in the warped mirror in the compartment even he was surprised. When I heard of this, I kept tracking him every three hours to ensure that he didn’t get washed down into any of the rivers en-route.

                His train reached only seven hours late and he finally reached my flat at 5-30 AM. Despite all the ordeal of a long tiresome journey with many hazards he looked none the worse but affable, ebullient and effervescent. When he entered my small flat all the walls and fittings glowed. All the portraits of my children and grandchildren hanging all over the place smiled and pealed with laughter. Even the jingles in our puja room pealed indicating the welcome of Gods.

                He spent a total of 27 hours in my humble abode and all the time kept laughing and made us all laugh like never before. His laughter is pristine filled with joy, unbridled joy and showed how unique he was. He has great connectivity with the invisible family of Sulekha and thanks to him I had the good fortune of speaking to as many as 25 bloggers to wit, Ixedoc, Vidayanathan Pushpagiri, reflector, Kala BN, yeshasvi, suvasri, mottogucci, dimwit, yash chabra, sophizz, swarajya, great thinker, Neha, Priya Sivan, Prof Ravi, sneha1967, Dsampath , d-w, John Williams and many more who all congratulated me for having the pleasure of the company of Subbu and spoke how the man had brought the virtual and real world closer. Our calls extended from Simla in the North, Mumbai in the west to Chennai in the south and received the same enthusiastic response.

                We even met longstanding friends of “swarajya” one VS Rao and Sudhakar Rao. I found out to my pleasant surprise that VS Rao was two years senior to me in college and whatever little English I know today, I learnt from his father, who was our lecturer.

                    I took Subbu on a short guided tour of our city, showed its splendour, the beauty of the beach road and the Kali temple I wrote about. I made it a point to take him to the parapet wall where I had several trysts with Gods Big and small and an angel.

                We spent the evening in the company of our common friend the Black Label (this time I decided to give the full name) and Mr Johnnie Walker helped our spirits soar high. Looking at his protruding paunch I tried to control his glass but found myself being checked. Time flew past us as though it was in a tearing hurry and soon it was time for him to get back. Soon the walls lost their glow and all the portraits groaned and moaned.

                     When he left I Faxed an application to Balaji to first take him to Coimbatore in one piece safely and thereafter give him and his family a long life with excellent health and a big smile on their faces always.

                I tried to analyse him and realised that he is a bundle of joy and happiness, spreads joy, mirth and happiness all around him all the time. In short he doesn’t fit into any mould/pattern. Dsampath agreed with me wholeheartedly that God must have had three rounds of B/L when He made him and went to sleep. We also agreed that God must have lost the design after making Subbu.

                In short he is one and only one of a kind and I was the 767^th luckiest man to enjoy the pleasure of his company. Here is my sauté to him.