Aaron Smith
(COO, Hello Pvt. Ltd.)
In works of fiction, there are broadly two kinds of conversations that happen over the phone. One is when we hear both sides of a conversation and the other is when only one side of a conversation is revealed to us. Why? Why does it happen that we get to know only one side of a conversation? Is it only because writers want to create curiosity and build tension? Or there’s something wrong with the phone the characters use?
We spoke to Mr Smith, COO of Hello Pvt. Ltd.
Tell us a bit about Hello Pvt. Ltd.?
Hello is the largest and the only call-repair service provider in the world of fiction. We specialise in resolving phone-related queries but are open to offer help on queries related to letters, birds or any magical devices used for communication.
Is curiosity the only reason why sometimes readers get to know only one side of a conversation made over the phone?
No, I don’t think so. In all such scenes it is always our Customer Care Operator who is on the other side of the phone, explaining the consequences of keeping the phone dead for too long. You don’t want your readers to know that your character hasn’t paid his/her telephone bill, do you?
Writers should check their character’s phone bills before hiring them.
But how can you be so sure it’s you operator on the other side of the phone? Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s the writer who doesn’t want to reveal any more than just the character’s expression in that particular scene.
One is free to think whatever one wants to. But do notice that such calls often surprise the character so much so that he/she cuts the call and rushes out of the scene. It’s the nearest Hello outlet they rush to in order to save themselves from paying the penalty.
Do you think writers of fiction are aware of this?
If they are not, then they should be. Writers should check their character’s telephone bills before hiring them. I’m sure writers have a better way to build curiosity than to depend on their character’s inability of paying a telephone bill.
If you want to know whether the characters in your work of fiction have paid their telephone bills, or want to confirm the telephone bill details submitted to you by your characters, then feel free to get in touch with Mr Smith at fictionalquerry@thekingdomofsmiles.com
Billu
(32, Male, 5’7”, 68 kg)
In Joseph D’Souza’s critically acclaimed book Marine Drive Murders, the serial killer walks into a South Indian restaurant called South Delicacies right after he has brutally murdered his third victim. What went inside the restaurant was unfortunately edited out.
Today, we are interviewing Billu, the waiter of South Delicacies who supposedly took the serial killer’s order. We’ll try to know him and how he felt after finding his entire scene removed from the book.
How does it feel to be a part of the critically acclaimed book?
Well, technically I am not in the book. Only the name of the restaurant where I work appears in the book. So, it doesn’t feel any great. But given the abundance of fictional characters that are there, who are desperately waiting to find themselves in a published work, it doesn’t feel bad either.
Chapter 7 ends with the killer stepping into South Delicacies. Why should the readers believe that it was you who interacted with him and not any other waiter?
Readers are gods. They are free to believe anything they want to. But as far as the truth is concerned, till the 16th draft of Marine Drive Murders I was there in the story, interacting with the killer. After that, the entire scene was—just—gone!
Apart from being in the thoughts of a couple of contemporary writers, I’m also in some unfinished short stories.
Can you explain the scene for our viewers? It would be great if you could avoid spoilers.
Sure.
He walks into the restaurant and occupies the first table on the right. He notices two tiny drops of blood on his thumb. For a moment, the two tiny drops of blood, which resembles a snake bite, fascinate him. He takes a tissue and wipes out the blood. If he wasn’t in a restaurant, he would have went on admiring the beauty of those two tiny drops which belonged to someone whose only fault was the first letter of his name. The L. The L was also the third and the fourth letter of the word HELLO.
‘Hello? Hello, sir?’
His reverie breaks.
The waiter stops knocking the table and says, ‘Order?’
He didn’t like the waiter’s tone. He felt it was rude.
‘Name?’
‘Billu.’
Shit, he said inside his head. If only it was Naman, or Nitin, or Nikhil, then he would have smiled, just smiled.
‘Order, sir?’
‘Idli-wada.’
Billu wrote in his pocket book.
‘And?’
‘That’s it.’
Billu about turns and shouts to the busy cook in the kitchen, ‘Nandu, one idli-wada.’
He tilts his head just a little to get a better view of the cook and smiles, just smiles.
Do you think the restaurant scene should have been in the book?
That’s for the readers to decide.
What other projects you are currently busy with?
Apart from being in the thoughts of a couple of contemporary writers, I’m also in some unfinished short stories. Hopefully, it will see the light of the day someday.
The sole purpose of interviewing fictional characters is to introduce them to writers of fiction, so that they can become a published fictional character someday. Please feel free to use Billu in your work of fiction. If you wish to know more about him, contact fictionalquerry@thekingdomofsmiles.com
Kingdom of Smiles 