varnam

Q: How do two Mallu strangers get to know each other?
A: Zimbly using GMail.

It all started when one G.S. Kutty started getting GMails meant for a Narayanan Kutty. If those emails contained some juicy information, it would have been interesting, but these emails contained photos of fish farms and technical papers as Narayanan Kutty was a former United Nations official specializing in acqaculture. G.S.Kutty knew something was fishy and he wrote to Narayanan Kutty's correspondents that they stop sending mail, which Narayanan Kutty did not like.

N. Kutty contacted Google for help, but never heard back. Maybe he is still on hold. But finally the mystery was solved by N. Kutty himself.

Kutty has found some relief. At a certain columnist's suggestion, he checked his GMail settings and found his account was set to forward mail to an E-mail address that was one letter off from his own alternative address. One letter.

Kutty says he doesn't recall choosing the forwarding option, but he is glad the problem is fixed. So is G.S. Kutty.

``Thank the Lord,'' he said by phone from Mumbai.

The other bright side to the delayed solution? If Narayan Kutty had fixed the problem immediately, he never would have gotten to know the other Kutty.[A GMail fan bobbles his account settings, and brings strangers together in cyberspace]