Happenstance

There are many patterns to our everyday life, the way we do things, react to certain situations, how our given mood and energy affect our decisions. It’s all there, right in front of our eyes and up to a certain majority it is all under the grasp of our influence.



Then there is that which occurs beyond our control, catching us in a different moment. Two events slowly line up and they connect on their own, forming a coincidence.



Many of the coincidences might not be of any value to our lives, in fact we might end up unintentionally missing something before a coincidence might occur because after all it’s a chain of events timed exactly how they happened that led to that particular outcome. But those we notice, they are commonly divided into the good or bad zone.



Let’s begin with the good part before taking things for the dark. The good coincidences are, like I had one, an ex-colleague who was a good friend. When we met we were not married, then we both got married, found jobs elsewhere and slowly we drifted apart from our connection. Then one day I met him at the book fair and we reconnected and stayed connected for a long while before things went into the ever-drifting world of silence again. I keep it in the good due to the good memories I still have, no reason to skip the good parts of life. Likewise, there are many forms of good coincidences, and they make us feel happy, more confident, and somewhat lucky to have experienced it without the literal ask.



The bad ones, they are like mosquito bites, the sudden strong irritation that just didn’t need to happen. Like my air conditioner stopped working after many repairs and I had to buy a new one and next day my old car had a mechanical problem, and it wasn’t cheap as well. Losing money like this has a unique feeling of sadness, where the tears don’t come to your eyes, they just collect in your heart and disappear without anyone noticing. This experience of coincidence I am sure I commonly share with many people around. But that is not the weirdest.



What I find funny is, the sense of hierarchy in people, it never easily fades and somewhat still remains. Like you left working in an organisation and one day you come across your manager and you are suddenly and automatically overcome by this sense of hierarchy like when he/she was still your manager. I met my ex-manager at the airport, that was the weirdest coincidence.



The manager, let’s name him Rahul for no particular reason. He was the son of the company owner. He wasn’t very impressive to talk to, and wasn’t very capable, if given a chance he would go on a vacation with his father’s money, but here he was the incapable one in the position of manager, hadn’t worked a day in his life before and now he was manager.



You get the idea where this is leading, I will not bother with specifics like Rahul blaming his own mistakes on others, often leaving early and coming late and not answering work related calls which delayed things, and the biggest one having no idea what it is to be done yet trying to act smart and making wrong decisions etc, etc. So, I left the company and few others did as well.



I wished I had spoken my mind to him before leaving, but I was glad I didn’t because I would have certainly said something very true but hurtful to him. I was not going to see Rahul again, so leaving smoothly was the more comfortable decision. But, yes given my habit I kept imagining the scenario where we did have that heated conversation where I told Rahul he was nothing without his father and all. That imagination died down after a few months.



But why did Rahul have to appear in front of my eyes, in the airport, going by the same plane I was. If I had spotted him first, I would have increased the distance to a point where there would be greater chance of him not noticing me. Sadly, he spotted me first. He could have ignored me, he knew I didn’t like him, but no, he had to come over and talk to basically say ‘we are good even after you people left’.



I gave a fake smile, controlled that sense of hierarchy, I didn’t say sir and mostly stayed quiet and Rahul kept telling, about the things he had done that had helped his father’s company progress, how the present employees were better and all. I excused myself pretending to attend a call, I thought he would walk away, but this man, he waited, so I spoke my pretentious conversation and then said I had to check on my flight and that is when I got to know he had the same one.



Now, I am a person who loves his quiet time and if I want to talk to great lengths, it would rather be with someone with whom I share a good amount of understanding. But this one here, he was hell bent on keeping on with his ‘progress and good work after you’ speech. I know I should have said something, but the field of work is the same and you never know who is whose friends and that happens a lot, you can call that a weird coincidence as well.



It felt like months and years, the boredom, the irritation, there was no end. This guy was following me everywhere and I was completely trying my best to not let the unpleasant words in my mind out. He completely overlooked and ignored what I was presently doing in life, considering it as something worse than the job I had.



I had a peaceful flight, the coincidence did not become weirder with Rahul having the seat next to me and he didn’t try to get the seat next to me as well, I thanked him in my mind for that. When we reached the destination, I made sure I got down much after he did so we did not meet at the baggage claim belt, but he did catch on at the end as I was about to walk out of the airport for that last handshake. Rahul told me how if I wanted, I could request him to get my old job back, then I smiled and said a few words and moved on without waiting for a response, they were-



“It wasn’t pleasant meeting you at all and I wish I never have to see your face again”

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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