Moment of a lifetime

Precisely 3 months ago, life gave me a beautiful surprise. I may have procrastinated to narrate this event, but it is as fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday. I was in Mumbai on work and had several back to back meetings for 3 days continuously. It was my first trip with the firm's CEO so I ended up meeting quite a few big wigs. This particular one I met purely unplanned though.

We went to Worli Sea Face to meet some people from TCS. I never did any talking at these meetings with my boss, except introductions and greetings. I was the silent listener. I had done the presentation that would generally be distributed and talked about in the meeting. If there is any question regarding the slides that my boss was not sure about, he would turn to me for clarification. That was my role in the 'big bosses' meetings. So coming back to the meeting with TCS, we were seated and greetings exchanged. The suited high profile man in front of me suggested to my boss that we should call Ram since he was upstairs. The name, Ram, didnt ring a bell. Soon after, Ram came into the room and I looked at him in awe - he was the famous man, Mr. Ramadorai who I saw on the news so often and whose comments I have admired on many occasions. There was something else to him that the other CEO's I met didnt have. It was a link to my past.

So, we began the meeting and I was an alert listener. I noticed that Ram quickly flipped through the pages of the presentation stopping occasionally for a few seconds on some pages. The meeting lasted 30 mins and I didnt speak at all. We were in the last phase of deciding when to meet next, when Ram turned towards me and asked "So, how long did you work at X company?" I had thoughts running in my head at the speed of a racing car. How did he know I worked at X company previously? He really wanted to know about me? It was a question that fell out of the sky and maybe I was dreaming? I didnt let these thoughts delay my answer and spurted out, "Two years". Promptly he responded, "Before that you studied at Mumbai University and then Columbia University in New York?" Another array of thoughts in my head. But this time, luckily I figured out that he must have read the last pages in the presentation, which states my short bio. I confidently nodded and said "Yes". He remarked, "Both very good schools indeed, very good" and smiled in appreciation. I was on top of the world and my heart started beating faster, while I smiled and acknowledged his complement in a room full of people. He then said a couple of more things to me as general discussion but his tone indicated that somehow he was impressed with me.

My first ever job offer was from TCS. I would have been working in the company, had I not made it to a good university in the US. When I received the offer, I was very inspired by Mr. Ramadorai and since then I have always stopped to read any articles related to him. On the way back to the hotel, I asked myself quietly, what would life had been if I took up the job offer in TCS 3 years ago? Would I ever have been in the same room as the Ram? Would I have the opportunity to shake his hand? Would he ever take interest in reading my profile? Would he even speak to me? I really dont know the answer to these questions, but all I care about is that I was on 7th heaven for a few minutes and I will forever look back at this episode with a smile and a sense of achievement.