Ravi, 73 · Chennai, India
Nobody can understand him any more.
Fourteen months after a stroke his speech is slow and effortful, and his mind is entirely intact. People make him repeat himself, so he has stopped talking to them.
Listen, and read along
Tap any line to jump to it. Side calls — when Zika phones someone for him — are indented.
The short versionRavi, Chennai
The short version joins three moments of the call. — 5.4 minutes, with nothing taken out.
Before the call
The scene
Twenty past ten on a weekday morning in Kotturpuram, Chennai. Ravi is in his cane chair in the front room with the cordless phone. The ceiling fan is on high, and the Tamil news is on the TV in the next room, because the house feels too empty without it. Out on the road a vegetable seller is calling out. Fourteen months after his stroke, his right hand is slow and so is his speech. His mind isn't. He still does The Hindu crossword every morning. His daughter Meena is in Singapore. He's stopped picking up for most people, because having to say everything twice makes him feel small. He picks up for this call. He's tired this morning and a little low. What he wants from the call is one practical thing, and to be understood without having to fight for it.
After the call
What Meena got, in Singapore
Ravi · today’s call
for MeenaLow to start but brightened up. Finished the crossword bar one.
BP tablets (amlodipine 5 and Telma 40) were nearly out. Ganapathy Medicals delivering 30 of each at 6pm today, with the bill to you. He asked me to tell you he's okay.
He said people make him repeat himself so he's stopped talking to them. He talked well today.
About this recording: Ravi and everyone on this call are fictional, and every voice is synthetic, designed from a written description rather than copied from a real person. The call was built from our specification and rendered through a simulated telephone line. The timings are enforced by the renderer: it fails if Zika talks over anyone or ends the call itself.
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