Destiny

This happened last November while I was in Hyderabad for the book launch. I was put up at one of my friends place at Begumpet. The book launch was at Saptaparni near Banjara Hills.I had to travel alone. My friend told me not to worry as the Hyderabad auto fellas can be trusted. She assured that she will come down to pick me up around 8.30pm.

 I attended the book launch around 5pm and met many of my old poet friends. Along with our book launch there was also another event hosted by "SOCH "(Social Change).A wonderful initiative spearheaded by like minded Hyderabadis. There were many who shared their experiences on how they brought a social change in the field of education. There was Feroz who conducts skits around the country travelling on his bike; another was an NRI who revolutionized the teaching methodology and many more.

One of the speakers was Archana Londe who runs a wonderful organization called “Dirty Feet “ along with my friend NIvedita. They conduct village tours for kids below the age of 6-15 exposing them to the rich culture and heritage of the rural life. While she was going through her talk show, her surname “ Londe” rang a bell ! I know that it was a wild guess. There might be thousands of people having that surname. My curiosity was aroused and I was dying to meet her and appease it

So, after her talk show, I cornered her and asked her if she belongs to Madhya Pradesh? She replied affirmatively and then I shoot my next question asking her if she has a younger brother called Kartik. She was astounded beyond words. She kept asking me how I know her brother

Well, I was not ready to let the cat out of the bag so easily. I asked her if she has her brother’s phone number and if she can contact him that moment. She agreed happily with an amazed expression in her eyes

She called him and asked if he knows a lady called Sunita Prasad from Andhra Pradesh . He replied positively. She handed over the phone to me and I spoke to Kartik  for the first time inspite of knowing him for 2 years. He too was in shock. We spoke for a few minutes. Archana was waiting with bated breathe to know the truth

Here comes the twist! The World is indeed a small place! When I told Archana the reason behind knowing Kartik. She was totally zapped

Kartik was my scrabble partner on Facebook. We played many games together on Scrabble Worldwide for nearly two years. Last year facebook replaced the game with Mattle’s scrabble which is boring indeed! I lost touch with Kartik after that. I usually never add scrabble partners in my friends list. Kartik did ask me many times to add him, but I was persistent with my principles.

Due to some unavoidable circumstances, my friend couldn’t come to pick me up and I was in a real dilemma. I am not much used to travelling in Hyderabad and it was already past 9 pm. Luckily Archana and her husband came forward to drop me at Begumpet as they were going to Tarnaka. It was a day full of surprises.

Indeed It’s a small world! Imagine meeting an unknown person related to one of my virtual friends!

This is in response to the Wednesday Prompt It’s a small world.
by Shilpa Garg.