The Number Game

“V.RMMMKHNNDUR” the wooden name board on the grill gate said. I wondered whether I was in the right place. But Ramachander had given this address to me .I rang the bell to find a beaming Ramachander standing in front of me .He beamed some more when he saw the cheque book in my hand.


I asked about that strange name on his gate and he laughed saying it was very much his name but with an improved spelling. ”How do you pronounce it?” I asked.
”Ramachander, of course” he said looking at me strangely.


He told me ever since he changed the way his name was spelt, he had not stopped climbing the ladder of success. Now, where would that land him? I wondered.
The stratosphere? Or the ionosphere? Since I wasn’t sure which one was supposed be at a higher level I stopped the train of thoughts.


On a more mundane level though, he said good things were happening in the home front.
His wife watched less number of weepy serials and his children were doing better at school. They managed to get an average of 45% instead of their standard 40%.
His customers were complaining less and his assistants were working harder. He was even considering a business expansion.
All this sounded like a fairy tale but I felt bad about the lack of right vowels in his name.


“What’s a vowel? He said philosophically.” They are meant for people who are content with the peanuts they are earning”.


He noticed my face which went from medium brown to dark brown and had the grace to blush. But he said ”I didn’t mean to make fun of you” and rubbed some salt and
garam masala on my fresh wound.


I put my then boiling head down and filled his name on the cheque leaf. I managed to get his new spelling right as he dictated it with a kind of devotional fervor.
Suddenly the room seemed to fill with an unearthly light .It was magical.
May be this name –number theory is true after all! Yes!


I too should change my spelling to “ssbbadddissshoibll” or something and pronounce it the usual way, I thought.


I looked up to find rmmmkhnndur’s face glow like a 10000 watt bulb filling the place
with light and wondered why.


I found out the reason when I looked down at the cheque leaf on which I had written
“ten thousand only” instead of the part payment of “thousand only” I had planned to write.


Yes, let’s face it; numbers do have a lot of power.



Subasri Narendran, Chennai.