Wisdom comes with age.

Or so one would have thought.

My experience last week had me thinking otherwise.

My tailor, with whom I’ve had a turbulent relationship, needed a prod. After all, his promise of getting my garments done in one week was now stretching into the third week and I needed to get Ms Papaya’s ghagracholi ready in time for Navratri. So I scrolled through WhatsApp and punched in his name.

To my surprise there were two entries for Naveenbhai Tailor that popped up in my list of Contacts. I wondered who the second contact was because the DP looked decidedly like a golfer. I zoomed in the picture and sure enough there was Naveenbhai from Kalbadevi seriously addressing the ball with perfect stance and a perfect concentration. Used to seeing him slouching over his sewing machine, I did a double take and showed it to Prima Donna who was travelling with me . I thought perhaps her younger eyes would see better and help identify the person in question.

But she was equally startled and both of us began thinking of how Naveenbhai the Tailor from Kalbadevi could possibly be playing golf?

You see my imagination knows no bounds.

Did he like many enterprising Gujeratis make trips abroad for business? Or was he visiting relatives in New Jersey ? Did he actually play at Bedminster ? Did he play with President Trump?

Unable to bear the suspense, I decided to catch the bull by the horns and messaged Naveenbhai the Tailor and asked if he was delivering my garments as promised and also if he played Golf. He replied in the affirmative to both.

Now I was even more flummoxed, so I asked Naveenbhai the Tailor playing Golf to identify himself.

I was shocked when he replied that ‘he’ was my husband’s cousin and the DP was the picture of her brother .

I still didn’t get it and politely replied that Naveenbhai was my tailor and stopped further interaction. I didn’t for a moment think it was my husband’s cousin especially since we aren’t remotely connected to any tailor. Actually, I was stunned by the sheer coincidence of it all : imagine me and my tailor’s wife sharing the same name and, even more surprising, her husband’s cousins having the same names as my husband’s cousins. Even by Ripley’s standards this was something I preferred not to believe

But stranger things are known to happen and for a few days I was completely distracted by images of Naveenbhai playing golf at Bedminster and downing beers with celebrity golfer’s on the 19th hole.

Then suddenly, a few days’ later, it struck me that perhaps it could be my cousin-in-law. Could I have mistakenly saved the cousin’s number under the wrong name? Was Naveenbhai the Tailor who plays Golf actually my husband’s cousin? It turns out that it was.

I was immediately contrite and embarrassed. This was a serious gaffe. In Indian society, a husband’s sister has a special status and imagine mixing her up with a humble tailor ????? I then sent off a series of messages to Naveenbhai the Tailor who was playing golf, aologizing profusely for my mistake. Luckily, the cousin-in-law has a sense of humour and graciously accepted my apology and bumbling explanation.

I promptly renamed the contact and I hope my brain fog clears up and I don’t make such mix-ups again .

Ciao and have a happy week .