Unlike most New Years’ eve revelers, I had decided to take it easy and retire early. No surprises there. After seeing my brother’s family off – who headed to his in laws’ house in Durgapur, I went back to the hotel room, grabbed the phone and the laptop and went down to the restaurant bar downstairs to write down about my intersection points.

Sitting in a corner, I was writing about my trip to Sujan’s house when I heard somebody nearby say – “Rajib?”. I looked up, somewhat surprised that I would find somebody here who would recognize me – although, I have to admit that I absolutely stand out with my shaved head in these parts of the world.

And it was Suranjan-da! Suranjan-da is my classmate Sumantra Kar’s brother and a senior of mine from my elementary and middle school. I cannot even remember when I saw him last. Maybe when I was in sixth grade?

It was a delightful fifteen minutes catching up with Suranjan-da and more importantly, getting introduced to his family – Suvra-boudi and his two daughters – Saranmoyee and Sulagna. I got to know a lot about the cause that Saranmoyee’s NGO focuses on – Livelihood. I have to admit that I take so many things in life to be granted that till I meet causes like what Saranmoyee works for, I fail to remind myself about how blessed we are. It was also great talking to Sulagna about her aspirations of becoming a MBA graduate. It certainly brought back memories from my old MBA exam days!!

I am really glad that I did not go to bed immediately and certainly very elated about shaving my head without which Suranjan-da might not have recognized me and I would have missed getting to know a beautiful family.