Connections

Nothing and seriously nothing makes my day like a great conversation. And so often, the best conversations happen with "strangers". Or very old friends. It is a pity how rare these opportunities are, but whenever such a chance comes along, it is like a spray of refreshing energy rekindling life. I'm lucky I have this blog, which has over the years helped me cross paths with so many brilliant people who have made a real difference to my life, through their words, through their friendship and just by their generosity of being themselves and letting me be myself around them. You know who you are - thank you. 

You know, even though this world is awfully small, this life painfully long, and the billions painfully crowded, the communication and "networking" modes too intrusive - we are all too lonely still as individuals, too starved of connections with other fellow human beings. And then, there's something magical about connecting with strangers in fortuitous moments, who in their "real world" protocols are too improbable and unapproachable to cross paths with you. 

Thinking of recent time, few months back, meeting SS after months of a pleasing relationship with her written words was the brightest spot in a super-dark fortnight and how much I adore her for that! And yesterday, through a rare conspiracy of circumstances (getting upgraded to business class in a flight too full!) I met someone else, a total stranger, who in the "real world", given who he is, I would have never had the kind of conversation with that I eventually did over the 2.5 hour flight. 

And once again, over a conversation ranging from the battle between i-banking, consulting, private equity and industry to  that between India, china and the world, to that between romanticism and pragmatism, life and dreams, heart and mind - I once again realized how incredibly easy it is sometimes to open up to strangers and admit your deep fears and conflicts that you don't even discuss with yourself. It defies logic, how we can tell a complete stranger your secret guilt, your conflicts, your "story". I think it comes from the freedom  of not being judged, or not caring about being judged. I don't know if I will ever meet him again - so much older, senior, busier, so very much unlike me in the person he is - but those 2.5 hours were special just for the unique freedom that came with it, something that even the mirror cannot afford. There's so little to lose, so much to gain - esp a stranger's ability of reading between your sentences and in your eyes of what you're really saying. A stranger's ability of making you think!

And then the beautiful facet of discovering how all people are basically the same - suffering similar basic existential questions in their mind few years apart, going through the same agonies halfway across the globe, and alternating between the same few so-called philosophies of living.

It's beautiful.