Guessing games

I was rushing to the restroom when my cellphone started ringing.
“How are you?”
The voice was not familiar. Even otherwise, I have poor ability in remembering voices or names.
“Good. Who is this?” I asked.
And then started the drama.
“You do not remember me? Oh my goodness, how can you forget me?”
The suspense went on for a good three minutes and I had to cut the phone.
The person called again and introduced herself as a public relations professional who had met me almost three years ago at a function in Dubai.
This is not the first time that I had to face such a situation.
On my recent visit to Chennai, a good man hugged me, talked to me about my family, childhood days and kept asking, “Do you remember how we used to throw stones at the mango tree and the old man used to chase us?”
Goodness gracious. I do not remember a damn thing, leave alone mango or stone, which is that old man he was referring to.
But I did flash a plastic smile, shook hands and escaped. I am still rewinding, but my memory refuses to recognise the friend.
Talk of guessing games and I remember a joke.
A man told his friend, “If you can guess how many mangoes are there in this bag, I will give you both.”
“Three,” came the reply.