Goof Master

It was another uninteresting day in office. I was busy at work, when my phone rang.It was my friend Ms Pooja. I had hardly known her for a few months now. But what a girl, an excellent conversationalist with a great sense of humor. It was always fun talking to her. We were doing the general chit chat, when she suddenly said, "Hey, I need to catch the 5:15 bus. Let me hurry up. Talk to you later." Before I could even react, she had said "bye!!" and hung up.

A little while later, I noticed that Ms Pooja was online on Google Talk. "Hmmm.. that's surprising. Whats she doing online ? I thought she was heading home...". The curious cat in me said "Meow !!" I decided to ping her. If she did plan to catch the 5:15pm bus what was she doing in office at 5:45pm. May be she forgot to log off. I sent a message "Hi !!!". Not expecting a response, I closed the window and continued with my work. When after some time I got back a one word response "Hello.", I was surprised. The lady of so many words, must be really busy or something, how come she had replied with a monosyllable and that too had taken such a long time. Meow Meow !!! the cat said. I sent another message "How come you are online ? I thought you were supposed to catch the 5:15 bus". I waited for quite sometime. No response. I was getting impatient. I pinged her again, "Helloooooooo". Getting no response, once again I put the cat to sleep and continued with my work, when suddenly I got a response.

"Hello Puchu. This is Pooja's father. Pooja has not yet reached home from office".

What ??? Pooja's father ?? What was he doing, logged in with her id ?? I had not bargained for this. I had bitten on something that I could not chew. I needed to bolt. I needed to bolt like one of those street dogs at whom you have just thrown a stone. I respond... "Oops !!! Sorry !!! Bye !!!" and disappeared into the oblivion.

I panicked. I knew that Ms Pooja was from as conservative a family as mine. If this was my Dad he would have one hazaar questions for me and some severe reprimands. "Guys having girls as friends. No way." Not an accepted thing in my family. I had to inform Pooja. She better be prepared to answer tough questions when she gets to her home. I rang her up and blurted out. "Hey, listen... I am SORRY. I goofed up big time." I told her the whole incident. She laughed like there was no tomorrow. She kept pulling my leg saying, "I cant believe you are trying to hurt me like this." I was thankful she could not see me. I was feeling really sheepish. Finally, taking pity on me, she magnanimously said, "Don't worry, I'll handle it. I must have forgotten to log off Google Talk last night and it must have logged me on when Dad powered-on the comp. Chill. Dont worry too much. I'll handle it".

The next day Pooja told me, how her Mom took the first opportunity that she was alone and asked her about the incident. Pooja told her the truth. Thankfully her mom accepted her explanation and did not grill her any further. I was glad that the incident had not spiraled into a big storm. I made a mental note to remember not to ping her on Google Talk again.

For the next couple of days, I saw her online a couple of times. And every time, just when I was about to click on the "Start Conversation" I recollected how I had goofed up recently. And stopped myself

Pooja has the habit of sending a "Good Morning !!!" mails with an inspirational quote attached, first thing in the morning every day. She usually has a long list of friends to whom she sends these messages religiously. When I saw her mail today, I said, "Let me not goof up once again". So, I wrote a reply to her.

Hello Pooja,

How are you doing ? Have a wonderful day !!

you know what...I think I shall remove your gmail id from my address book. I dont want to accidentally cause any more problems to you

Regards,
Puchu

I sent her the mail and got busy with my work. Sometime later Pooja calls up and is laughing her head off. She is laughing so much that I cant make a thing of what she says. After a while she finally composes herself and says, "What the hell did you do ?". "Now what did I do ??" "You did a reply-all instead of a reply. And now all my friends want to know who Puchu is."

I was mortified. I couldn't believe I had done this. I felt like digging a hole and creeping in to it. There was no way I could have done this. But then, I had. I really did not know what to do. All I could do was apologize. I said "I am SORRY. I owe you a big one this time.". She laughed and said, "This is not the first time." I knew it was true, "Just add it to my list."