Misnomer!

 

When he looked at the phone, there were multiple missed calls. He had forgotten to turn off the silent mode after waking up, and had got busy with the festival related chores. When he had picked up the phone after dressing up post his shower, he realised his folly. The locked screen also showed up a strange message from his boss. 

“Call me back, sweetie”, the voice mail message had been transcripted. It was more than a shock being referred to as ‘sweetie’, by his boss. A lady to boot. He rubbed his eyes and looked at it again.  Without wasting time he went into the voicemail box and heard the message. He let out a big laugh and a deep sigh of relief.  A contraption that understood English and transcribed accordingly didn’t yet get the nuances of Indian tongues. AI and LLMs will surely meet their many matches and waterloo here, he thought smilingly. 

His name had been transcribed as sweetie in place of ‘Sudhi’. 

He sent a response to her on WhatsApp. “Happy Ugadi, maam! Will call you in a while”.