I poured myself a cup of instant soup and settled for the TV news hour. It was around the time when the reader was summing the news in headlines that the home land-line rang- a ring that had lost its familiarity.

I almost left the ring die, but curiosity got the better of me- who could possibly have called me on this number?

“Hello”

“Hello” – a soft voice, female, almost like mine a year ago.

“Yes”

“Ma’am, could I talk to you for a few minutes”

“Regarding?”

“I have been told to contact you in case of any queries”

“Queries regarding what?”, I wondered out loud.

“Well I was told that I could ask you anything.”

I wasn’t quite sure who this lady was, what she wanted or where did she get my number. But, with the soup all cold and the next re-run of hourly news fifteen minutes away I settled into a conversation with the young lady.

“Can I call you again? ” she asked after 10 mins of chatting.

“Sure”

The call was over just as quickly as it had started.

I got back to watching the re-run of the news and thinking. Who was she and why did I tell her so much?

Something interrupts my thoughts, I wake up with a start – the monotone ring of the land-line calling out aloud. It has to be her.

“Hi,  it’s me again”   she sounds different this time. I cannot pin it but somethings shifted in her, or maybe somethings shifted in me.

“Yeah, tell me” – I ignore my thoughts.

“Just a few more details”

I let her ask and answer what I can, no big deal.

My thoughts are interrupted yet again, with songs of U2, its my mobile phone and it’s him calling.

“Hey, sup?”

” Hey, forgot my cell at home, will swing by to pick it up.”

We hang up. How much everything has changed, in a blink of a year.

Tring. Tring. The land-line again.

“Hello”  I say.

“Hi, you hung up?!!”

“Uh Oh, got another call..sorry”

“Who was it ?”

“Him”

“Tell me about him”

I tell her, everything from the start to the final call today, that’s all she wants to know so I hang up.

The day has been moving fast, no work’s done and it is already 5 p.m. I start to open my office mail to reply to any priority  mails, just then the phone rings.

Her, again. She is beginning to annoy me.

“Yes?”

“I want to know more ”

I instinctively bring him up, we chat – sharing details.I hang up.

I think again, how much has changed from the beginning of the year to now. From thinking of me to thinking mostly about you.

The phone rings again, almost immediately. It’s her.

But, I know it isn’t me answering it anymore. Nor does he answer the call.

The shift is palpable, perceivable to me alone.

It is me who has shifted, shifted enough to see that I am not me anymore. I am just what remains to fade into you.