The Lalitha Debacle – A comedy of errors!
It was a pleasant Saturday morning. The boys had just wrapped up their early morning cricket match and were waiting to get back to bed and doze off till noon. Among the boys was my brother and his friend Sonu from the neighboring building. Sonu jumped over the fence and they stood talking for a few minutes. And that was the historical moment which led to the series of events during that day.
Sonu : Suna kya? Early this morning, that A block Lalitha aunty ‘s son ran away from home.There was a lot of commotion here and apparently the police had come too. We could hear the noise all the way down to my flat”.
Bro : “Kya baat kar raha hai? That’s crazy.. I should tell my mother about this immediately. She was one of her good friends..”
Now, Lalitha is a very common name and the blunder could have happened to anyone else. But before I proceed, I must clarify that, yes, my mother’s good friend Lalitha lived in A block and had a son. But she lived in Sonu’s building (No.33) and not ours ( No.32) . Sonu was infact talking about a Lalitha who was living in our building. The chaos which ensued is still not clear to me to this day but one thing which is clear is that my family was at the crux of the entire situation, and are perhaps the only people who know the entire story.
Back home, Mom had just finished her chores, and left home in a hurry to catch her standard local train. 15 minutes later someone pounded the door. I groggily answered the door and almost got smashed behind it as my bro rushed in and called mom informing her about the incident. Mom was in shock when she heard but she was nearing office ,so she called my Dad who was driving to work and whose office was relatively closer home, “ Listen, Sandeep just told me that Lalitha’s son has run away from home. Her husband passed away long back and she was widowed at a very young age. She also has a daughter. It must be a huge shock for her. Please try dropping in from office and enquire how she is..”.
My Dad, who was right in the middle of some heavy traffic , horns blaring next to him, heard a few words “Lalitha,daughter and ran away” and formed a story of his own. Hard to blame him considering you need more than 5 senses to handle Mumbai traffic, and my dad was juggling with a phone in one hand and the steering wheel in another. He had just entered his office and kept his briefcase down, when his colleague and a person who used to live in our quarters, Mr.Mohan walked upto him, lowered his voice and said, “Sir, there is some disturbing news, CM Raman’s son from A 104 ran away from home. They apparently realized it today morning.” Now, my Dad who had just come to terms with his wife’s close friend’s daughter’s running away matter, was confounded. Why were all the kids choosing this particular day to run away?? He dubiously asked “Pardon, I am not sure if I heard right..” and was told the same thing as earlier. He pondered for a minute and told Mohan, “That is really shocking! My wife just called and told me that neighboring building Lalitha’s daughter is also missing since today morning.” “Are you serious? God, what is happening to kids these days. I just cannot believe this”. Men, as I now understand sometimes gossip more than women. This news had spread like wildfire and several calls were made to eager housewives waiting to hear updates.
Soon, Dad was busy with paper work and talking to customers and the morning’s incident slipped away from his mind for a while. After finishing his work to an extent, he walked to the cafeteria for lunch and sat down with a few of his colleagues. As he started digging into his food, he heard fragments of the ongoing conversation,
“ Yeah, we were all shocked..” “That too Mr.Raman…” “ Such a respectable man..”
“I have a strong feeling that girl and this boy have run away together. It makes sense..They were living in flats facing each other.”
“Oh my god. That makes more sense that you can imagine. Recently, Mr.Raman just shifted from A-102 facing 33 bldg to A-104 which faces the road. Maybe there was more to it than we knew.”
This, was new to my Dad. He was trying to sort out this brand new information in his head and called Mom to tell her the latest happenings. Mom : “Hello, did you go to meet Lalitha? I am really anxious..”
Dad : “No..I’ll go as soon as I reach home. Did you know that Raman had shifted his house recently? Here , everyone is discussing that Lalitha’s daughter and Raman’s son have run away together.”
Mom: “WHAT????!!?? How did Lalitha’s daughter come into the picture? That poor girl has been married since three years and lives abroad with her husband and kid.
Dad : “But you just told me today morning that her daughter ran away..”
Mom : “Why don’t you ever pay attention to what I say? I told her SON ran away. I cannot understand why you HAVE to complicate things. ”
Dad : “Sorry sorry, Don’t worry, ill sort out things and clarify matters..”
He kept the phone and spent the next hour clarifying the misunderstanding. He then made a few calls and when someone mentioned about “Raman’s wife Lalitha”, it all became clear to Dad. That no child of Lalitha from 33 bldg had run away. Only one boy had run away and he was the son of Raman, CM (Chief Manager) of one of his bank’s branches and his wife Lalitha. He guffawed to himself as he thought over the events that had occurred since morning. He decided he would get back home and call my Mom to tell her about it.
Meanwhile, it was 4 pm and my grandmother normally goes over to our neighbor’s house for the afternoon discussion of tamil serials over coffee. As they had an animated conversation about the previous day’s episode, someone bought up the topic of the CM’s son who had run away. My grandmother listened seriously and then returned home soon as it was time for Dad’s return from work. When my Dad rang the bell, granny opened the door as soon as she could. He had hardly stepped into the house, when she asked my dad “Who’s the Chief Minister of Maharashtra?”. Dad was bewildered. He had heard her tell him about the girl in the serial whose husband was killed and that she had remarried and was now being tortured by her in-laws, but NEVER before had he heard her ask anything like this. He kept his briefcase down, and asked “What? Why do you want to know the chief minister’s name?” Granny solemnly replied : “You see, Meena from next door just told me that the CM’s son ran away from home today morning! Now, all this is common for people in politics, but I was just curious about his name , that’s all..” And that was the last straw.
I heard a explosion from the hall and ran to find my dad sitting on the sofa, clutching his stomach, laughing loudly, tears streaming down his face and I couldn’t help but smile. To think that it all started with an assumption made by my bro , and that the main person in focus was sidelined in all this mess!
Shakespere quoted “Whats in a name?” . My only retort to him is : More than you can ever imagine! 
The The Lalitha Debacle – A comedy of errors! by Sahithya, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
sushma alphonsa says:
Ha ha ha….super hilarious!! hv actually clutchd ma stomach and laughd!!! well written!
Sumathi Baskaran says:
I am stuck with words chinnu….. Very well written. May God Bless you with many more writings and witty expressions!!!!!!!! I remembered good old days…..Kallu Mama laughing to this incident…. and recollections and the whole group laughing at various scales, hahhaha…really a good one. Enjoyed reading. Keep it up.
jyothi Rajesh says:
Too Good !! Sahitya.. Very nice .. Laughed a lot.. Keep writing ..
Sahithya says:
@Amma : Thanks! Yup..remember recounting the incident at every family gathering lol!
@Sushma and Jyothi aunty : Thanks!
maligned Dad! says:
Hilarious! could relive those moments almost on
realtime basis. Remember Anand used to narrate
this episode over and over to many an audience who
would go on raptures. Read Stephen Leacock. You
will definitely enjoy his stories, humour soaked.
Vasu says:
Good . keep it up
Sahithya says:
@maligned Dad! : Haha! I knew you wouldnt mind
And thanks for the suggestion appa.. will check it out in my next visit to the lib! 
@Vasu : Thank you uncle!
Nithin says:
Nice one…In between even I got confused who is who
Sahithya says:
Lol.. I dont blame you..! I was pretty confused while writing this. Was at a loss as to how to narrate it without baffling anyone!
Parimala aunty says:
Hi Sahitya, That was a good one!
Sahithya says:
Thank you aunty!
SATWIK KRISHNA says:
ha ha
nice one
Vignesh says:
lolz..
nice 
Rk says:
Uncle, it is not safe to talk on mobile while you drive
Just kidding.
Nicely written Sahithya.
“Men as I now understand sometimes gossip more than women.” – Haha, priceless. It is only “Some men…” imho.
maligned Bro says:
Nice pic for the blogpost… Well the funniest part was that the entire episode was traced back by everyone from all directions back to me only after 2-3 days… And I was immersed in the confusion without realizing I was one of the translators who lost the message…
Sahithya says:
@Sathvik, Vignesh : Glad u liked it!
@Rk : Thanks & btw I think the “sometimes” part is more suitable than “Some men”.
Sahithya says:
@maligned bro : Haha look at you and appa trying to gather public sympathy!
Yup, I still remember how amma and appa have guffawed for literally an hour before narrating the whole story to me! 
maligned Bro says:
Great stuff…
I was looking for any details that were missed by you in the story .. but could not find any.. (damn!) .. that shows how many times we have heard the story over and over and over….
Its very important that for this particular story, no details are lost in translation by the narrator…
Sahithya says:
thank you!!! and aah.. always looking out for faults
And I couldnt possibly fit in any more details! 
dodappamma says:
i was in a seious mood over some credit card muddle when i opened the msg. so hilariously written . my mood is much better now.
high time sahithya u start writing a novel. surely it ll get a booker or some such award.
Sahithya says:
Thanks dodappa & dodamma! Thats definitely re-assuring, that the story changed ur mood
While writing, I was wondering if anyone would relate or have the patience to read! 
And a novel is way beyond my capacity 
knnmoorthy blr says:
Chinnu dear,
A little baby to a dancing doll, an Engineer, a writer, an avid reader
to now a humorist explorer even in small domestic conversations. Where r u heading to my dear – kisi ki nazar na lagjaaye! Excellent and keep it up-Moorthy
Sahithya says:
Thank you so much for those encouraging words Moorthy mama! Coming from you, Means a lot to me..
Regards to everyone at home!
ranjani says:
I too felt you writing Stephen Leacock! good
Rajesh says:
Sahitya,this article is “SIMBLY FANTABULOUS”!!!…It also has hidden message behind these hilarious scenes that why we need to be a “patient listener” rather than “hurry ,burry listener” before coming to conclusions..great work..keep it up!!..but on the other side,sure sandeep will be fuming “how come I am squeezed in corner” by sahithya!!!…
HARIPRASAD says:
EXCELLENT STORY!!!!
having known the charecters from close range from such a loooooooooooooooooong time, I could actually see the entire thing happen before my eyes!! where are the comments from the boy who started it all?? has he run away?
Sahithya says:
Thank you Prasad!
The boy who started it all has commented under the tag “maligned bro” 
dribs says:
Omg chins… Its hilarious!!
you make things really interesting… thats why i do listen to you sometimes 
you are an amazing storyteller
Sahithya says:
“sometimes”. Glad you wrote that.
Tamara says:
Like Dribs said you are an AMAZING storyteller! In spite of having heard this story narrated by you at least 3 times, I couldn’t stop laughing while reading this!
Sahithya says:
Cmon tam, exaggeration! m sure I havent narrated this story 3 times! :O Anyway at least it wasnt an ITS!!
Faiza says:
Hey nice yr, very Hillarious.
Keep up the good work..
Sumanth says:
A very good writing Sahitya
This was Hilarious 
keep writing
Sahithya says:
Faiza and Sumanth : Thank you!