The Guess Who Am I Contest

When I was in India, I dreaded picking up the phone at my parents' place. Why? Simply because the people calling up my parents' home, typically relatives, would never quite identify themselves, ask about my dad, my mom, their whereabouts and then promptly put the phone down. They would not even ask me who they would be talking to. I was amazed that seldom did feel the need to identify themselves when they would talk on phone.

But worse was to come. When I did come around to asking who I was talking to, there would be complete surprise, even anger at me not being able to identify the voice of the person I was talking to. It really was too much for me to play the "Guess Who Am I" Contest. A few times I did try to play the game, my mind would race dramatically at the various options that the voice seemed to point to and then, I would actually forget the content of the call! It ceased to be exciting beyond a point. So I decided it was best to leave picking up the phone to my parents, and not to me. Sometimes, they themselves would not be able to figure who they were talking to but they seemed quite nonchalant about it, almost as if they had grown used to it.

I guess this game is built on the twin premise that ones voice is distinctive and the same time, there is an inbuilt voice recognition system in receiver's head. My mind is more used to the plain and simple name identification system that just makes things so much simpler. And of course, no embarrassment at one's voice not being instantly recognized!