In the morning today i made a phone call to Barclays Bank, Islamabad. I tried all the four telephone lines but nobody picked up the phone. "They too, have closed just like Gerry's?", I thought to myself. After 15 minutes i tried again and the call was answered. Below is that short conversation cum story.

me: I want to open a student account in your bank. Can you please tell me the requirements.
guy: "OK, please wait, let me transfer the call." The guy puts me on hold and after a silence of about one minute the line drops. I had to try again.
me: A while ago i was on phone with you and the line was dropped while you were transferring the call.
guy: "Ok, hang on."

This time the call was transferred to a lady after a short pause. All this gave me the feeling of a desi environment in the bank. After listening the detail she told me to contact another guy and gave his cell number. Why didn't she transfer the call to the desired extension? That can be a poll with the following options:

a) The guy didn't have any extension.
b) He was absent.
c) He was out of bank to buy an eid gift .... No, don't take it wrong.
d) There wasn't any such guy in reality and she gave me the number of his younger brother, who, by chance, happened to be there when i called.

Anyway i contacted that guy and told him the story. In response, despite answering my queries, he told me what i had already learnt from their website. He promised me to call back after an hour but now it's three hours since i spoke to him. No reply yet and i am sure there won't be any. Either he has forgotten or he was really her brother.