ellison calling bollywood

Serves me right for not finishing the collection Dreams with Sharp Teeth I had bought several months ago. The final story in that compilation was something called Shatterday (go read it to figure out where that name came from). It's all about this guy called Peter Jay Novins who accidentally dials his home phone number and ends up talking to himself at the other end. It's been adapted for television too. That nugget of a premise should suffice to encourage you, dear reader, to utter three words: Karthik calling Karthik. You can be sure of one thing -- Karthik's a South Indian (the h is the giveaway, cotton-brain!). IMDB tells me his last name is Narayan, which still leaves some room for doubt, but I'll put my bets on दक्षिण. Perhaps someone should let Mr. Cordwainer Bird know.