This is why I like to reconnect with anybody who has ever crossed my path before – birthday day calls, dinners during business trips, going to villages in India to extract somebody I knew half a century back… And make some new connections on the way too… Because you never know if you will ever meet them again…

It was hardly a year back – in fact, March 2016 – that I found out that this gentleman – father of somebody I know in Atlanta – was in an old age home not too far away from where my parents live. Last May, I went in unannounced. He did not know me. But that was okay. It did not take me too much time to make friends with him… or the many other old folks who came by to talk to me (their moment of pride? – “my son/daughter is also in America like you” – the irony of they pushing their next generation to a better life in America while they get relegated to a distant old age home with total strangers weighed very heavy that afternoon on my drive back). [“The Gift of Time”] (top two pictures)

During my next trip last year – and that would be June 2016, I brought my sister with me – who is a far more compassionate person than I am – and we spent about three hours with the gentleman and more people of his age group at that old age home that time. I remember he mentioning that it would be great for him if I could drop by for two minutes every time I came to visit my parents. [Revisiting an old age home”] (bottom left picture)

In my next trip (last year end/this year beginning), I was running very short of time. On my way to the airport, I took one more detour – after some debate on whether I will miss my flight – to see him for about fifteen to twenty minutes. His last words? “Ok. Go now. But come back again. It feels good to talk like this”. An overwhelming sense of guilt had gnawed into me on the trip back – Why was I even thinking whether I had time to meet him? If I did not have time for old folks like him who have made folks like me stand up in life, aren’t all my priorities all messed up? [“One last unscheduled stop”] (bottom right picture)

What I did not know is the following – that meeting on Jan 4 was to be the last. A friendship of 10 months has come to an end. Mr. Lodh is no more. I will go past that old age home to visit my parents every year. And I will just be staring at the home as my brother speeds past it. That one human being I got to know a little is no more…

And I will be wishing that I had gotten to know him earlier… that I had visited him a few more times…. that I had stayed for a few more minutes….

He was, above all, … a human being!!! A kind and considerate one at that too!!

A few of us came earlier in the day to get ready for our Board meetings in Tampa. Tampa is also the place – strictly speaking St. Pete – that our business and personal friend Amar calls home. Amar’s company and we often compete with each other and then in many other cases, we partner together. He is acknowledged to be one of the industry leaders in our segment. Therefore, as you must have guessed, it is always great to sit down with him and get his perspectives on market, technology and customers. Specially for me who came from outside the industry.

Last evening, three of us from our team – Mark, Bob and myself sat down with Amar for dinner and drinks. We even called his wife – Aparna – to join us. Which was a good thing – since we are always up for one extra person to gang up on poor Amar!!

It was a great evening – and we even got to do business before Aparna came along!!!

Having stepped out of the flight at Tampa, I was weaving thru all those folks at the gate waiting to get into the plane for the outbound flight, when I thought I saw somebody that looked very much like me. Clearly somebody of Indian origin, he was also bespectacled and sported a clean shaven head.

What is more, I thought I might actually know him. He was peering into his iPhone busy doing whatever it is that busy people do with their iPhones at airports. To make sure I was not mistaking a stranger for somebody I knew, I went and just stood next to him. Eventually, he lifted his head and sure enough – it was an old colleague from the past – Gautam Vyas!

Neither of us work in our old company any more – so it gave me a chance to catch up with his exciting moves in career as well as get updates on some of the old colleagues. Funny part is that we do not live that far apart from each other (by Atlanta standards at least) but we actually saw each other first time after I left that job in of all places – Tampa airport!!

The normal routine after checking into my hotel room at 9PM any day would be to fish out my laptop or iPad out, go downstairs, get a seat and a drink and finish up some of the office emails. Last Monday, I checked into the Courtyard in Waukegan, went to my room and suddenly told myself – “Break up the routine”.

But how? Maybe not take any digital device with me? Well, I had to keep the phone in my pocket in case of emergency calls from home or family. But not before I had quickly glanced for any urgent emails. There being none, I slipped it in to my pocket and went to the bar.

The idea was to grab a drink and then just sit at an empty table. And just watch what goes on. That hurried guest who would stroll in and check in to the hotel. Those folks at the table making the last minute changes to their sales presentation. And all that.

Well, that was the plan.

In reality, what happened was in about five minutes, I was sitting at the empty bar surrounded by four staff members of the hotel. And it was like I was holding court there. Asked everybody about their origins and life in general. There was the lady who had lived most of her life in the locality and was making small packets with chocolates for her guests for the next day (it was Valentine’s day next day). There was the gentleman from Mexico who missed his parents.

But this story is about the 20 year old young gentleman who not only stood there and talked to me… he eventually came back to me to talk to me more when everybody had left.

“I have a daughter nearly your age”, I tried to make a connection with him.
“She is in college?”
“Yes”
“Where”
“NYU”
“Wow! She is fortunate”

Not sure how to take this forward, I tried a different tack…
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Law Enforcement, Sir!”
That took me a few seconds to absorb. I cannot remember any young kid ever having said that to me before.
“Local, State or Federal?”, I fished.
“Local and then Federal”
“Why Law Enforcement?”, I asked.

That is when I started to put this young man’s story together. His grandfather was in the Navy. As was his dad. At some level, it is in his DNA to be in a similar line. But what is not DNA – just him – is his sheer drive and single mindedness.

He is in his second year in Community College. But he spends an enormous amount of time in community activities. He evens pays thru his college by working with different local enforcement agencies – sometimes doing as mundane jobs as writing reports and sometimes patrolling the beaches. (BTW, he gave me the tips to find the beach to run on the next day).

The more I talked to him, the more I was impressed in his clarity of what he wanted in life. At that age, if you had asked me the same question, you could not have gotten a blanker stare. I was totally taken in by his enthusiasm of his beliefs in how people are usually great and by organizing them into communities you can do what cannot be individually achieved.

About half an hour later, I had to ask him “So, what is your name?”
“Justice, Sir”.
“Justice?”
“Justice Morgan”
I could not help. “Justice wanting to be in Law Enforcement. The jokes just roll off the tongue, don’t they?”
“You cannot even imagine, Sir”.

Maybe not. But here is something I can imagine, Justice. With a young guy as driven and as focused as you, I cannot think of a single force that is big enough to stop you. Your world, as you desire, shall be yours.

Certainly, as somebody more than thirty years older to you, I want to believe that – that is the world we built and left for you.

Now, make it so!!