I was on this flight to back home the
other day, deeply engrossed in the in-flight entertainment TV show when my co-passenger
tapped on my TV screen. I pushed back my headphone to look at him and he
pointed me to the flight attendant. The flight attendant was trying to get my
attention to check if I wanted food. I took the food, politely apologized to
both the attendant and the co-passenger, stopped the TV and settled down to
eat. “You like that show?” my co-passenger asked me with a slight questionable
smile. I nodded my head but did not understand why he was smiling. “Your kids
traveling with you?” he asked again, and I said no. We did not speak after that
but I was surprised how he knew I had kids. It then occurred to me. The moment
the in-flight entertainment had started, I had gone to the kids section,
searched for a cartoon and had settled down for a princess cartoon which my
daughter watches. The funny part was that my kids were not even with me on that
flight J.
I got down at the airport, and my
connecting flight was after an hour. I sat in the waiting area still thinking
about that incident on the flight. I think every event in life brings about a
change in us, however subtle. We change after high school, after college, after
marriage, after kids, when we start a job; and it goes on. Probably the biggest
change is after marriage and after kids. When you have kids you know what your kids want and adjust your life to suit the kids. Your vacation list now has
only kid approved places and the vacation days are only around the kids’ school
holidays. You no more go to a movie or watch a TV show which is not appropriate
for the kids. Maybe that co-passenger had kids and that is how he knew I had
kids.
Outside of these big changes I think we
also go through temporary transformations every day as we step into work. In my
case I think I become a little more patient, little more attentive, little more
careful, the moment I step into office. It’s not just the different work wear,
the funny part is even our language changes. We are no more just at work or in
meetings. We are now in “stand up” meetings, preparing “decks”, working for
weekend ‘deliverables” and focusing on “production installs” J
I glanced at my watch and still had over
30 mins for my next flight. I walked to a coffee shop to get coffee. I took the
coffee and went to get sugar and cream. I was at the sugar and cream table when
another gentlemen came and stood next to me. He too had coffee in his hand and
had come to get sugar and cream. I usually take about 5 to 6 sachets of sugar
for 12oz of coffee. I would take sachet after sachet never thinking twice while
I was in college, but getting into work has changed it all. I had to put
through surprise stairs and questions from people in office for consuming so
much sugar. I am now a little more discreet while adding those extra sugar sachets
trying not to attract too much attention. So I took 2 sachets and stirred my
coffee waiting for the gentleman to leave. The guy too took 2 sachets and kept
stirring his coffee. It was more than like a few seconds but the guy did not
move. After probably a minute of stirring the coffee I gave up and decided to
go for 4 more sachets and ignore if the guy comments. To my utter surprise, the
guy too took 4-5 more sachets of sugar and looked at me. We both realized we
were waiting for each other to move, to add more sugar. We greeted each other
and he told me how he too gets strange looks from people when he adds those
extra sachets of sugar. We bid goodbye to each other and I walked back to my
flight gate with an added sense of assurance.
So it’s not just me. Everyone who
goes through the regular life events also goes through some inevitable changes.
One change might be to accommodate something new while another change might be
to accommodate something different. Bottom line, I think it’s these changes
that defines where we stand in this journey of life.