I know I have seen you before, but ... Er

I met someone on my subway ride to the office and failed to recognize him, but we talked for a long time.

If I keep count of the times I have embarrassed myself and paid myself a dollar for each such event, I would not be rich, but I would have sufficient money to afford a skiing trip in Colorado. I often find myself in comical situations, and this is not a new occurrence. In my undergrad days, I remember waking up in my college dorm only to notice a vast Benzene molecule model kept at an aside in my room. It looked like the one we had in our Chemistry lab. I wondered for a very long time why it is here. Later, I woke up my roommate, who told me we hiked to our engineering department in the middle of the night and picked it up from their storage shelf. I was flabbergasted and asked him if we would get in trouble now. He said it should be fine since we got the older version of this model by mistake. So, no one should care. And he continued along with his sleep.

I quickly forget minor things, but this is because I am always profoundly invested in big ideas. I leave it to others to decide whether my assessment is accurate. Meanwhile, let’s get back to the topic of this post.

I have figured out this routine for my daily work mornings: I get coffee from this cafe just below my building and spend some time chatting with the baristas. I have met them regularly for almost two years and know what’s going on with their lives. Once I have gotten my coffee, I plug in my giant headphones and, invariably, start listening to lectures on either Upanishads or Vedanta Philosophy or sometimes good podcasts that I have bookmarked over the last week. My commute is a profoundly personal time where I ensure my mind reaches an abstract place, as philosophical thinking with a deep background essentially translates to building a massive castle of ideas. If the foundation is well done, you quickly start the process and taste the joy of infinity as you reach the top parts of this castle. Anyone who might have felt enriched by classical music, either Indian or Western, would know what I mean.

As I was in the middle of this process, waiting for my train to arrive, a familiar figure approached me. The train arrived just then, and we both rushed to get seats. We did get seated side by side. He gave me a warm smile and asked me how I was doing. At this point, I knew I was going to embarrass myself, as even though I felt I knew him, I couldn’t tell exactly who this guy was. To delay my embarrassment, I didn’t object or enquire about who he was, hoping I would remember him at the right time. And continued and chimed along with the conversation. The conversation flowed on general topics for a while while I was forcing my mind to stop building the castle I have progressed so far, to leave it aside and quickly get back to its state where it can fish out memories. Oh, but I was stuck.

Finally, after a few minutes, I stopped him and told him apologetically that I didn’t exactly remember him. I tried to guess if we had met in a completely different context. He laughed and explained that we met when he needed a Tabla for a local show, and I had a spare one. Ah! My tendency to spend money on my music fads is nothing new, but this guy was a serious player. Suddenly, that whole scene flashed back, and now that I was focused, we chatted for the next 25 minutes, and I learned that not only is he a master Tabla player, but he is also a chess champion who has previously defeated a grandmaster! Then I realized that he had mastered astronomy and astrological sciences, and he explained how these calculations work through various mathematical equations. And then, he said he has some intro understanding of Advaita Vedanta, which blew my mind because this is the pinnacle of Indian thought, the highest insight that I preciously study to taste its infinite wisdom occasionally.

I quickly realized I had found a deep thinker, a precious gift that life occasionally sends me. I became so engrossed in my discussions that our station came as if in a few seconds. I reluctantly had to leave the discussion, and we parted on our respective ways to the office.

Have you suddenly felt an offering coming your way without you chasing or thinking about it? This was that!

Has something like this happened to you? Something where you were deeply impacted by an instance that came out of nowhere? Do share!