A Chance Encounter

 This is the memoir of an incident we encountered in July 2005.

The mood was upbeat; we were polishing off our holiday to Bali with some shopping at Singapore’s Mustafa Store (A Mecca for bargain shopping located in the Little India town at Singapore). We had picked up a Home Theatre System we had been eyeing for a while (apart from other knick knacks) and were very happy at the bargain we got. We waited excitedly with our shopping trolley outside the store, to go to the airport. We beckoned passing taxis but since we were amongst the many persons waiting we were competing to get to a stopping cabbie before anyone else did. Our luggage was affecting our agility in this awkward competition. With every passing moment (and every failed attempt to get a taxi!!) we were getting anxious as the time for our return flight was approaching. We then spotted a taxi stand round the corner and promptly landed up there and joined the queue. At the end of the queue with about 6-7 persons ahead of us, it seemed that we were going to have a long wait – not a very comforting fact. However we stayed in the queue brimming with anxiety and worry. The taxi drivers savoring the rush hour moments seemed to be choosy in picking up destinations (Yes, it happens in Singapore too!!). Prabha rushed up (out of turn) to the cabbie every time he showed a slight reluctance in ferrying the passenger at the front of the queue to his preferred destination. “Will you then take us to Changi?” she used to say, hoping to find favour. But it was not to be. And to be fair, we were way behind in the queue to really get away with it. We continued our now seemingly endless wait for a taxi looking into the horizon for the next one.

“You wanted to go the airport, come over and join me” is what I thought I heard. Was he talking to me? Before I could gather myself and figure out “You wanted to go to the airport, I am going there too” said this middle aged Indian looking gentleman in a white T-Shirt readying to get into the taxi, this time pointing to me and clarifying that he was indeed talking to me. It was his turn in the queue and he had probably noticed a harried Prabha mention “Airport, airport” umpteen number of times. However before I could say anything, another person behind me in the queue jumped at the offer and said.. “I will join you”. “Look I have already made them the offer, if they don’t take it you are welcome or alternately, if all of us can fit in, I have no problems” said our man, who by now I noticed had decided to move to the front seat.  We were very glad at this favorable resolution and quickly dumped our boxes in the boot of the taxi before comfortably ensconcing ourselves in the rear seat. The other person walked back to join the queue much to our relief!!

We were so glad that we were on the way to the airport and thanked the gentleman profusely for well ‘being such a gentleman’.

Prabha had got a sandwich and burger packed from the nearby outlet while I was settling the bill at Mustafa’s. This was to be our lunch. We immediately began gorging on our eats blissfully oblivious of the gent in the front seat.  We however made a perfunctory offer to share the sandwich, which he politely turned down saying “Thanks, but I am sure you’ve had a busy day so you must be hungry”.  We got chatting during the course of which I realized that he was on his way from Taipei to Bangalore and had come for a dekko at the latest PDAs during the stopover. He looked tired and weary and as during conversations with any stranger, the mind started putting stereotypes together. We decided that he was probably a middle-level/ senior management professional from a small / medium sized company. On being asked about us we said  “We are coming from Bali and are on our way to Mumbai” we said.  “Oh Wow, how is Bali?”  He was curious.

“I want to go there on my next family holiday,” he said. I looked at Prabha and smiled (which I don’t think he noticed as he was looking ahead), this was not the first time we had heard this. Almost everyone to whom we mentioned our plans for Bali would say that. Some of them meant it, though some of them said so, just so as not to be left out in a true keep up with the Joneses’ style. We didn’t quite know which category our friend belonged to. “What is there to see in Bali? ” he asked. “Well, Bali is a tourist spot whose eternal appeal lies in its discovery. It has various facets to its mystique and it unveils itself layer by layer…” I replied stiffly with an almost a bookish language that tried to fake the élan of a seasoned ‘been there done that’ globe trotting millionaire traveller. But he would have nothing of it. “ No, but what does all this mean, what is good about Bali and is it worth visiting” he said. That did it and before I realized, I was now telling him all I felt about Bali, its cultural glory, its world famous unspoilt beaches, its bluer than blue waters ideal for snorkeling and scuba diving (incidentally, the latter was of most interest to me) and everything I liked about it, place where we stayed, food etc, all this with childlike excitement. Since all of this came out (rather poured) straight from the heart, I didn’t realize that I was talking a lot, until a small nudge from Prabha shook me. She gave me a look that suggested that I have talked too much (the usual women thing you see!!).  I flinched from the shock of that nudge and returned that look to Prabha “There is something in Bali for every kind of tourist” I continued, unscathed by the rude interruption. All this while our friend was very intently listening to my travelogues with his nodding and exclamations suggesting that he was equally involved in the talk (or is that what I thought? - I would never know !!!). While I had said most of the things I thought a traveler to Bali ought to know, I realized that I would be failing in my duty supremely if I didn’t tell him about something that had bothered us. “Sir, vegetarian food is a problem in Bali just in case you are a vegetarian like us” I said feeling relieved. “So what did you do” he wanted to know. I could see Prabha looking at me shockingly, but I ignored her “Simple, we cooked!! Our apartment had a proper kitchenette and we cooked our vegetarian food” That was it – Prabha thumped her forehead and leaned towards the far end of the wide seat of the Toyota Crown taxi. She was obviously upset at me having revealed something that she thought would make us look like aliens  - someone from the African tribes or something. After all Bali with its varied cuisine is known to be a foodie’s delight. And here I was telling him that we cooked. “Oh really” he said and started laughing. I was absolutely non-plussed.. My mind was conjuring up images of Prabha later telling me ‘I told you so’. But what happened thereafter was something that vindicated my frank talk.

“You won’t believe this, but we did the something similar on our trip to Europe” he began and went on to narrate some such interesting anecdotes of his travel and we were all enjoying his no bars conversation. He was a well-traveled gentleman and by now it was clear that he was also a very humble human being. Our conversations started getting interesting and there seemed to be a ‘bluetooth’ connectivity that got established between three of us, the common factor being a love for travel.

Just then I noticed the ‘Welcome to Changi’ signboard. For once we were not relieved that the destination had arrived. Our conversations had just begun and were becoming very absorbing every passing minute. But it was time to move on. “Send me some dope on Bali when you reach home” he reminded me. Meanwhile I handed over to him some printouts of the information about Bali, I had downloaded from the internet and were there in my bag. The terminal arrived and our friend promptly paid off the cabbie. “I would have come to the airport anyways” said he when I offered to split the fare. We thanked him for the ride and the good time that we shared. We exchanged business cards with customary greetings (though I saw his card only cursorily, thinking about my luggage which was still in the taxi boot) and parted ways.

I hadn’t however missed the logo of a famous Indian software house on his card. After unloading my home theatre boxes from the taxi on to the luggage trolley, I looked at the card again and what I saw changed my image of the man. His demeanor - humble behaviour and extremely simple personality void of any flamboyance - concealed a very successful businessman, a very committed professional and a very intellectual soul. Yes - the co-founder of one of the most successful software companies in India has to be all of this and more. I looked around hastily to locate him. He was gone. He had been sitting in the front seat of the taxi and we had been at the back seat so we hadn’t even had a good look at him. I told Prabha about him and his stature while lugging our trolley to the counter and talking about how lucky we were to have met him and at the same time foolish to have been unable to recognize him. We were enjoying recalling and discussing the conversations during the taxi ride. Then I suddenly noticed him. He was standing just outside the terminal building with a colleague (or friend) peacefully smoking a cigarette. Maybe he was planning for his next million-dollar project looking at the smoke. We waved at each other; it was time to bid adieu to Mr S Janakiraman – Co-founder of Mindtree Consulting. Salaam Sir!!!