9893159679 was Andy's
mobile number for the last three years. This was his first number and he was
very fond of the number like the people who never forget their first love.
Friends who used to call him up all these three years have learnt to imitate
Andy who would reply to their calls in a characteristic Marlon Brando style,
"Yes, this is Andy speaking" or when he used to call somebody up he
would use the Amitabh Bachan baritone and say, "Mein Andy bhol raha
hu".


This day Andy was sitting in his mobile operator's office with an application
in his hand stating that he wanted to surrender the number as he is migrating
to another state. There was a long queue at the office and Andy new that it
would take another ten to twenty minutes till his turn comes up. He was not in
a hurry. Sitting there he began to recollect the time that he had spent with
9893159679. He could remember the cold rainy night when he was driving through
the roads of the steel city and his mobile lighted up. He answers the phone and
he finds a very sweet and sexy female voice at the other end. That was a
misconnection. He said that it is a wrong number and hangs up. After reaching
home, he is haunted by the voice and he decides to call back the number. The
sweet voice answers the call and their conversation hit off.



Next several days, he was completely captivated by the sweet voice. He would
sit on one of the windows of the half completed building he lives in, caring
less of a very nasty fall, six stories down and be mesmerized with the talk of
the Sweet voice. Time passed by, the building got completed, he shifted his
place of talk to the terrace of the building and amidst the simmering lights of
the steel city he would fall for the fancies of the Sweet voice. With the
coming of the spring, he shifted his place of talk once again,this time to the garden of
roses. There he sat in with the company of the roses in the middle of countless
nights. He could now even smell the Sweet voice with the fragrances emanating
from the roses. There were times when the night patrolman would lighten up his face with the rays of
torchlight and Andy would shout at the patrolman, “This is Andy, won’t you let
me speak with my Sweet voice peacefully”. The patrolman would apologize and go
away promising himself never again to disturb the man in love.

Those times it seemed
to Andy, that the whole world was his and everything was his for the taking.
Then the harsh winter sets in. Sweet voice would now call him only
occasionally. He knew that this short period of cheerfulness in his life was
about to end. The Sweet voice did not call him anymore. He knew it was the end
but in the deepest part of his heart he knew that Sweet voice would return to
him someday. He waited, winter passed and summer came, and the Sweet voice
began calling him once again, the intensity and the warmth of the calls
increased. Suddenly one day the Sweet voice announced that she would be
disappearing from his life. Andy did not protest for some reason he did not
know, may be the time was not yet right. That summer, when the sun was at its
peak of glory, Sweet voice finally disappears never to return again.

The rain sets in and
Andy curses himself of letting the Sweet voice go. He walks in the rain to hide
his tears and complains to his friend that this was gross injustice done to
him. The rain stoped, and Andy founds himself all soaked up with rain water. He went home
and changed his clothes

Sitting that day in the
mobile operators office he could still feel himself shivering on that rainy
night crying and complaining to his loyal friend. The lady at the reception
announces Andy’s name, Andy recovers from his chain of thoughts and walks to
the lady. The lady asks why he was surrendering 9893159679, he tells her with a
great deal of sadness that he is moving out of the steel city. The lady smiles
and asks him to pay his dues. He pays the dues and asks the lady if he could
have a last look at 9893159679. The lady seems surprised. He has his last look at
9893159679 and walks out of the office without muttering a word.

That’s how Andy said
goodbye to 9893159679.