Something was up in Chicago this week. I had meetings in downtown on Tuesday and Wednesday morning and then meetings in office west of the airport thru Thursday night. Every hotel in downtown was $800+ per night. The hotel next to my office – which I normally pay between $120-$160 per night was listed for $1500 for Tuesday night! And there was not a single rental car available with any company in any location.

I had finally settled for a hotel near the airport for Tuesday night. It was double the normal rate but at least it was under $400. This also meant, I had to use the train to go from meeting to meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But life, I guess, has a way of giving back. If not for all this inconveniences, I would not have met an old friend of mine.

I had finished my breakfast with Tyler in the city and had come back to the hotel to pack up and check out. I was going to an Urgent Care for an ear related issue that has gone out of control. I had hailed an Uber and then instead of standing outside, waited inside the doors. (Was trying not to expose the ears to the cold outside).

As I was peeking thru the doors to see if my ride had arrived, I noticed somebody walking down the corridor of the hotel. She looked at me and then looked away. I looked at her and wondered if it was who I thought it was. She looked at me a second time but still did not recognize me. She probably had realized that I had been looking at her all this time that she was walking by.

She looked at me the third time. This time, I took a chance. “Amy?” I asked. She must have recognized my voice or face by then. “Rajib Roy?”

Turns out Amy and I used to work together some 17 years back in a Boston based company. I had left that job by 2006. Amy had moved away to New York. Many moons later, in December 2013, I did meet her in New York and we put in a run together in Central Park.

She was in the hotel for an event for that day! What is the chance of that?

Unfortunately, my ride had arrived and I had to leave. But not before we promised to make time to meet in the evening. We both had meetings scheduled till late. I was done only around 8:15PM. But Amy was kind enough to come over to my hotel to meet me. Deval from my current company was also there and we had a great time together. Most of it was about the old times together but some of it was about what Sharmila refers to as “crop circles”.

I will let you ask her what they are all about!