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As you know I came across a stranger that I connected with on flight; and we had parted ways saying we would both like to make plans to see each other somehow over the next 48 hours whilst he was still in the city.
For most of the taxi ride home, my mind sort of drifted to make head or tail of the way our interaction unfolded; and in the end I just thought ‘well everything happens for a reason’. Right ? It couldn’t have been a bad thing ! In fact it was possibly the most fun thing to happen to me. Maybe it was the universal spectrum communicating with me.
T-48 Hours
I had a ton of things to do once I got home by 12:30 – unpack; sort out a few gift items; catch up on a few days worth of emails; get back into instant work mode. It was such a jerk to my system and that too after being sleep deprived for close to 30 hours; not to mention the time zones my body had been through. I’d been on 4 flights, driven over 2500 kms in 5 days and slept less than 5 hours a night .. my body was crashing on me. By 6:30 p.m I started dozing, before which I dropped a quick note to Airport Boy, and found myself waking up by 9:30 p.m, totally disorientated. Did I want to eat (I was starving); have another shower or just stay curled up in bed ?
I think I ate something; managed the shower; fell back into bed and woke up to find my laptop had died out on me and it was just past 1 a.m according to my crackberry. Oh and Airport Boy had replied as well; ended up sending a few texts back & forth and as much as I wouldn’t have minded taking him up on the offer for a back massage (which he did suggest once again) – at 2 a.m there was no way I was gonna be able to get out of bed; drive to the suburbs and explain that to my father in the morning once I got back home !
The boy fell asleep messaging me. That was a day gone to waste. Would I get to see him the following day ?
T-24 Hours
I already knew he had a busy schedule for the first half of the day– so did I; and both of us had plans in the evening. NC had lined us up an 8 p.m meeting and he was off to a friends’ sangeet function. At about 5ish – a quick text hello & to have a good night; I got a call back.
From the sounds of the call – didn’t look like we were going to be able to meet up. He did apologize for passing out on me and then said something which struck me .. “I guess we missed our chance last night" .. and it seemed that way too. We chatted a bit more, planned to stay in touch and hung up.
I stared back at my phone thinking, ‘wait a minute – I would like to see him; he’s not 
from the city and as a planner I’m sure I can figure a way to manage this’ .. so I called him back (and he did sound a bit surprised) and told him point blank that his words got me thinking; and if he was up for it – I would be happy to pick him up in the morning and we could go for breakfast near the airport at one of the hotels and then I could drop him off’. This was a plan that could work – I knew it could – he liked the idea and agreed with me.
A few hours later, in the midst of my meeting I got a message from him telling me that he had to return the SIM card he was using; and he was moving location; but to message him the time and place for the following day and that he would be there and meet me directly. I had replied to him with a fixed time & location but perhaps an hour later when I was actually done with the meeting.
T-5 hours
I woke up early with a dozen thoughts going through my mind. Should I have called him back last night instead of the message ? Surely he would let me know if there’s a change in plans. We had discussed on the phone an approximate time to meet ~9ish at one of the airport hotels and even though he had to give his Sim card back – he could always keep my number handy (he had my business card) and call me from someone else’s phone.
My mate Addiee told me to stop thinking so much and just get myself over to the hotel and wait for him there. If he needed to get in touch with me – he would and since he hadn’t as yet – all was 
as planned. And so I made my way from Colaba to Andheri and found myself in the lobby of the ITC Grand Maratha – keeping an eye out for a complete stranger who I might not ever see again.
With my phone on the verge of dying on me (seriously the BB needs proper battery life!); the trainee at the business center came to the rescue which meant I was without a phone for 15 minutes. What if he called during that time ? So I did what anyone would do (at least I think they would do this) … perched myself on a seat in the lobby with a view of the front door and waited …
