Internet Dhanam

Asking whether someone knows

Between friends

A :Hi, Ravi. You look tired. Are you all right?

B : I’m quite all right. Only overworked. I had a real hectic day in the office.

A : Oh, I see. How about some coffee? That’ll refresh you.

B : That’s good idea. Let’s go.

A : Did you hear about the latest political developments?

B : No, I didn’t hear anything. What happened?

A : Two ministers have resigned from the State Cabinet. Rumours say some more will be out soon.

B : Who are the ones who’ve resigned?

A : The Home Minister and the Education Minister.

B : But the Education Minister was supposed to be close to the Chief Minister. Did they leave on their own or were they asked quit?

A : It’s not clear yet. The radio news was brief. It just said that two ministers have resigned. There were some rumours about differences between the Home Minister and the C.M. Do you know anything about that?

B : Well, not the exact details. But I had heard that the C.M. was unhappy about some postings in the Police Department.

At a travel Agency

Customer: Can you help me? Do you know whether there is a train to Trivandrum today?

Official: I’m afraid there is no direct train to Trivandrum from here. You’ll have to go to Chennai or Bangalore and then take a train from there.

Customer: But I don’t have that much time. I want to reach Trivandrum fast. Is there any flight?

Official: Let me see. Today is… Thursday. Yes, there’s a direct flight to Trivandrum, at 2.30 this afternoon.

Customer: Oh, I see. That is good news. Could you arrange a ticket for me, please? It’ll be a great help.

Official: Let me try. It’ll take at least fifteen minutes.

Customer: I’ll wait. But do you happen to know how much the airfare to Trivandrum is?

Official: It’s about twelve hundred rupees.

Customer: Thank you. Now I’ll wait. Please try for the ticket.