Encounters of the Elite Kind

Sometimes, the most interesting experiences happen, in the most commonplace circumstances. Thats why probably one remembers them so much. This incident started at Quiznos at the Minneapolis airport , and ended at Newark airport's baggage claim. Now, Minneapolis and Newark might be somewhat interesting, but  me ,Quiznos  and the baggage claim, were most definitely the most commonplace things  of all. And in that order.The most interesting of all these, was a person by the name  of Azim Premji, head of Wipro. Here's how it went, completely unexpected.

I had an hour before I boarded a flight to Newark, so I went to Quiznos, ordered a sub, and sat there eating happily. After a while, I saw  two gentlemen standing in the Quiznos line, in front of me, facing me. They were suited, and had a air of command around them. They seemed very out of place at Quiznos. I could not help noticing them, because they were right in front of where I was seated. It struck me, the familiarity of the face of one of them, who would later turn out to be Mr. Azim Premji himself. I thought of him, and I discarded the thought, arguing  that why would the head of Wipro be in a Quiznos line? For the uninitiated, Mr. Azim Premji, , with a net worth of 17 billion $, is one of the biggest business stalwarts from India. I thought that even his driver's servant probably would own a Quiznos. He has no business being there. !!

But the thought did not go away. I finally turned to the always reliable iPhone ( iPhone Use # 1), and did an image search on Azim Premji. Opened a full blown picture of his face, and compared inch by inch to make sure that I was not mistaken. There he was, right in front of me, unmistakably like the picture on my iPhone. I decided it was worth taking a chance. I quickly dumped what I was eating and ran to the restroom right in front of Quiznos. Cleaned my face of any bread crumbs and tidied myself. I was thinking of some paper to get his autograph on, and I decided to use my business card. I even kept a pen ready. I was thinking, that if he is indeed Mr. Azim Premji, I want to say a  hello, and get his autograph at least.

By the time I returned to Quiznos, the two gentlemen had moved to the exit of the line, and were collecting their subs. I hurried ahead and started talking. to Mr. Premji.  

NM:                       "Excuse me sir, are you from India ?"

AP:                        "Yes I am " . (check #1 )

NM( half smiling ):   "Do you happen to be Mr. Azim Premji ?"

AP(smiling ):           "Yes" (confirmed)

NM (elated)            "Its my privilege to meet you Sir.
                               I did not believe it was you initially"

AP(smiling):             "Well do you believe now?"

(Laughter Laughter)

I asked him if he can give me an autograph. He agreed.He asked my name. I told him and I gave him my business card to write on, backside up, as I thought he would use the blank space, but he turned it the right way, and read my name. He then wrote on the same side "Dear Nachiket , All the Best- Signed AP".. I told him that  a lot of our family members are from Amalner, the place where Wipro was formed, as a soap company at that time.He exclaimed "Small world, eh?" and laughed.

I wanted to have a photograph taken with him, but he had gone  ahead to eat his sub, along with Rajiv, the other person with him. I later came to know who Rajiv was.He seemed to be his right hand man. All this while, some other Indians recognized that he was someone important, and some actually recognized him too. I was happy that I got this chance. I ran for my flight. I immediately clicked the photograph of the signed business card, and emailed it to myself, as a backup. (iPhone use # 2) .I posted this incident  to Facebook. Amen. 

I did not expect anything else to happen. Right when almost everyone was seated, I saw Mr. Premji  walk in my flight. I was pleasantly surprised, but more so, when he sat in economy. I wondered why. I thought he probably did not get a first class ticket, but it seemed unreasonable that these people do not plan so ahead of time, as to not get a ticket. I kept wondering. I tried to search for "his men", to see where they were seated. I couldn't see any.Thats when I saw a post from my friend Varun ( still hadn't shut of the iPhone), asking me if Mr. Premji  was seated in the economy class, as he is known to do. Thats when I realized that Mr. Premji is known to do that. To set an example may be. Whatever it was, I thought it was a good move.For me at least that day :) I was in 17D. He was in 14A.

The flight was pretty uneventful. He was sleeping most of the time. The Newark part is much more interesting. After boarding out of the flight, I went to the restroom. I was already happy that I met him, and I would have a story to tell to my sister, whom I was visiting.I was washing my hand at the sink, when he walked in. I kept washing my hands.He came to the sink next to me. I still kept washing my hands. I wanted to see if I have one more chance of a conversation. But the place seemed inappropriate.

We both turned toward the towel machine. Now, this might sound weird, but this machine has an important part to play. The machine was not automatic, and it did not have a clear lever to force the paper out. The lever was part of the front plastic panel itself, and because it was the same color, it was hard to make out the lever from the machine.I could , he could not.I operated the lever for him. He said thanks, and we both walked out of there. After this newly formed acquaintance, I was a bit more confident of talking to him. I was surprised that he did not have anyone else walking with him. I grabbed this chance , and started talking to him. .Some excerpts from what we talked.

I said "Sir, can I ask you a personal question ?", AP said "Depends on what the question is" and laughed. I asked."I always wondered if you were a Gujarathi?" . The reason I asked this was because I knew, Amalner (MH), one of the roots of Wipro, is densely populated by Gujurathis. He said "Well, I am from the Kutch region.So yes, I am a Gujarathi. I understand, but I do not speak much. ". I told him my family was from Gujurat too, even though I am from Pune. He asked from where. I told him Mehsana. he asked me if it was near to Surat. I told him it was probably nearer to Baroda.

He then asked me what I do. I told him I was a Systems Engineer at St.Jude Medical, a medical device manufacturing company in Minneapolis. He asked me what does St.Jude do. I told him we make devices to correct arrhythmias of the heart.I told him that I had worked in the IT sector in India, at TCS for a while before I came here for higher education. I told him that I am an electrical engineer by background. He then exclaimed  "I am an electrical engineer too. Remember, there are only two kinds of people in the world. One, who are electrical engineers, and others , who aspire to be ".

The identity crisis-ed electrical engineer in me wept and finally rested in peace.I told him that I will remember that line forever. I even told him, that my roommate used to work at Wipro, and he also got some kind of award from him (Neeraj Gaur). I told him, that probably,  even though I might look too young to comment, but if it does count towards anything, we the youth of India were very proud of what he did, and wished him success towards his every other endeavor.He said he really appreciates the compliment and thanked me. I had said this as I sensed these would be my final words. As ahead, down a small escalator, I saw a person waiting with "WIPRO" banner, obviously to receive him. Once there, I joked, "So, it seems here's where we part  Sir. It was nice meeting you ". He laughed too. I went towards baggage claim. I saw that he spoke something to the person who came to receive, and it seemed something to the effect that he would receive his bag, and join him, and he told the person to wait outside. He started walking towards the baggage claim, where I was already waiting.

I was delighted at some extra time with him. The story even gets better now. He wanted to read the flight number on the baggage claim carousel. He tried to find his glasses. He searched in his jacket, and then he searched in his executive bag. He couldn't find it. He was suddenly worried. He handed me his baggage claim ticket, and asked me if I could verify if that carousel was ours. He was still searching for his glasses. He then exclaimed that he must have left them in the flight. He was telling me that this is the first time he has checked in a bag for such a flight. He also told me that he usually never sleeps in the flight.He was visibly worried. He said he cannot read anything without his glasses. He mentioned he probably left them on his seat in the flight.

I offered to help him. I told him, that if he does not mind, I can run back to the flight and search for it. He looked at me and considered my offer. He said "Can you really do that?". I said "Of course, I will run and be back soon". I gave him my carry on backpack to watch, and I ran. That was the best sprint of my life. I went back through the escalator, through the walk ways towards the flight.

Now, I was so excited, that I did not know and read the sign, that I cannot enter back. Its a "Exit only" zone.I accidentally ran a few steps inside that area, before the attendant there shouted and stopped me. She did not understand why would anyone break that security line. I told her that I was looking for glasses. I just came from a flight from Minneapolis , and the glasses might still be in the flight. She told me she cannot let me go beyond that point. At that time, the pilot of our flight was exiting from there, stopped and asked what was happening. Even before I could speak, he asked me "Are you looking for a pair of glasses? ". I said "yes, they are my uncle's. He was on 14A". The pilot spoke to the attendant and told her, that he knows that I was in his flight (we had exchanged greetings while exiting, and he was a funny pilot, full of jokes), and offered to take me to the flight, so that I go under supervision. I was surprised by her reply. She told him she cannot even let him go back.!

Now another attendant came up and asked what was happening. He and the pilot spoke. The attendant then offered to go and search for the glasses. He said that he would send them down the baggage claim, in a tray. He asked me for my  "uncle's " seat number, and I told him 14A. I ran back to the waiting Mr. Azim Premji. 

Now, while we were waiting for the baggage carousel to start, I asked him, sensing my last chance, for a photograph. He did not seem to mind it. I found a guy next to me, and asked him if he can use an iPhone ( dind't want a single opportunity I had got , to give me a blurred picture). He said yes, and took a picture of me and Mr. Premji next. I thanked AP a lot for that. I joked, that this is so precious, and this is going to make me famous on Facebook. We both laughed.

I got a couple of calls from my sister  asking if I was done, and if I got my bag. I told her that I was still waiting. I did not mention about AP, because I was talking in Gujarathi, and I thought he would not like me mentioning him. We talked about a few more things. I asked him where is he usually stationed, and he mentioned Bangalore.Thats when we heard an announcement for the "party who has lost their glasses" to come see the Delta office. I found where the office was, and we both walked towards it. There was a different person inside, and they said they had the glasses with them instead of sending it through the baggage carousal. He handed the glasses to AP, and mentioned that "one certain gentleman" almost broke security to retrieve them. I was behind him, and I smiled. I raised my hand to him, and exclaimed guiltily "That would be me " . He then mentioned that they found it , not on the seat, but in the restroom.

We both came out of the office, and by that time, some more people had recognized him. They handed me their cameras this time, to click a picture. I joked "Oh....you got him with his glasses on ". Later, we both walked back to the baggage carousel, which had started by then. I got my bag, and he was still waiting for his. I wished him all the best for the rest of his journey. I asked him if he is heading back to India. He mentioned he is in New York for 4 more days , before he heads back. I once again told him it was my pleasure meeting him, and I would always remember it. He mentioned that he really wanted to thank me, for what I did, and that he really appreciates the gesture. We smiled and parted. I emailed that picture to myself immediately.(iPhone use # 3, in 3 hours). Met my sister outside. She asked "What took you so long?" . I smiled. I had a story to tell.

So, that was my encounter. Bucket list item # 37. "Meet an iconic celebrity at the airport, click a picture and get an autograph". Check. 

Seat #'s 14A and 17D :)

Nachiket Mehta

7th Day of Sept 2010.

Amreeca

America is a rectangular country.So you have to take diagonals to save time.But anyways, that is not the most important thing about this country.What has happened to me in the last few weeks is mindblowingly different.And the journey starts since I first missed my cell phone; which was five minutes after I was in the plane. I heard a "Swades" ring tone, and that jolted me to something I am not quite sure, for two reasons. One that I actually "heard" it because it reminded me of my own cell phone which had the same ring tone and for the last few days in India, I used to keep it on ringing mode as compared to silent, because I really did not want to miss all those who called me.Secondly the timing and ring tone itself was metaphoric.With all its shortcomings, the fact is that I have fallen for her.America got me.Might be infatuation, but yeah, the U S of A's got me.

The flight was my first. And I was hoping for all that to happen that happens to one in a flight , which I was not sure what ,but I was hoping nevertheless. A hijack or a turbulence or an amazing air hostess maybe. My mother had said some time ago.."I got to go in a plane at the age of 45 , you are going at 23". 23 I was and not a single dream not dreamt, I was ready for the new world. My first beautiful sight after India was not an air hostess. It was the one sided sunrise when we were about to land in Amsterdam.One side of the plane was pitch dark, the other had the sun rising in its full glory.It was awesome.And for the first time I felt it was a pity the plane had such small windows.And then as if sensing my wish to be in those moments, the plane got a no landing signal. So it kept on making rounds at the airport high above.And I kept watching the sun.

But a surprising thing came across me at the Amsterdam airport. I thought.."Well, this airport is not all that posh as much I have heard. We can have this thing easily in India, in fact better."And somehow that made me feel better .Aha..and these people don't believe in drinking water, they believe in spilling it. Their water faucets defy gravity.A tap by definition should have water coming down, not going up like a jet. What are we supposed to do, take a aim and drink? I tried , much to the other passengers' embarrassment.

And so I write this, as the leaves start falling to give way to the "fall".And it is very beautiful..they change from green to yellow to red and then fade away. I was lucky to get lively friends,who made our initial stay a very pleasant affair. On the way back from the airport itself, not caring a damn about how tired we were ,Siddharth proposed that we go out to some place and hang out. So the fun started day one,ground zero.And I almost screwed up my entry in America.At the immigration check counter, the officer asked me something, to which I replied "yes" assuming I heard it right.The officer stopped dead in his tracks.He kept staring at me as if I was an impossibility in the scheme of things.Then even I got bewildered and asked him "what"? He repeated his question, and that's when I heard it right.He had asked "Have you been arrested before ?".

And then there was this other officer who was curious about what a "thepla" was. I was at a loss of words.How can someone ask a gujju an explanation for a "thepla".I tried to explain desperately, making a round shape with my hands, assuming the shape to be enough to tell him the importance, but he just couldn't get it.That's when Madhura pitched in and said "Its a Indian bread".And then he let us go.

The first few days were busy with getting college formalities done and then looking around city. Transport was initially only walking, but then we got used to all the bus routes.The buses are really awesome, and air conditioned.We saw the "'Stone Arch" bridge, a really old but a picturesque bridge.Near to it was the "Guthrie" theater, a place for drama and theater.Minneapolis is a culturally rich place, with quite a lot of resources directed on maintaining the culture of the place.And that makes the city very beautiful.And we also experienced almost all kinds of weather in the first few days.It was raining initially.I thought I got the weather with me.And then it was very cold, and then very hot .But overall the climate is very enjoyable in summers .It was very hard to get habituated getting out of the house after reading the weather forecast.Was never used to it.And harder was believing the forecast.These guys are actually accurate.And talking about the country's rectangularity, i guess its possible to accurately map it because it is rectangular.I came to know the real power of google maps in America.We can accurately get direction and distances to the last mile.

We also visited the MOA-that's Mall of America.That's the biggest mall in America,..yes its in Minneapolis.! It houses four of the biggest stores in America at its four corners and a huge amusement park "inside" it.That is when I went in a Apple showroom for the first time.And handled the i-phone...No comments. The mall also had a section of Lego. A whole section was built life size with Lego blocks. It sure makes you want to become a kid again and play with those.

All emotions are magnified in a foreign country.Every joy is magnified,every sorrow doubly so.I never knew I would also experience those "I don't know why I am crying" kinda tears.But I did.And in fact I am happy that I was vulnerable.Loved ones are missed so much.Missed ones are suddenly loved so much.And you want to be with your family.You are enjoying the novelty of a new place, but at every place and corner, you wish that someone close should have been with you to share all that. You imagine how you would tell others of the experience ,but you know very well that words can't fully recreate these kind of experiences.So you want your loved and cherished ones to be with you at that moment all the more.

Then came the great "house and furniture hunting" phase.Now this might seem trivial, but it was a daunting task.The whole year depended on what kind of house you got ,and how far and how near to the bus stop u got,and how cozy and how deep inside the ground u got,and how..? It wasn't much different from the gold rush where everyone sacrificed everything they had and left in search of gold. Hopeful and full of food we used to set out in the mornings, scurrying the streets of Minneapolis.We decided to focus on an area called "Dinky Town". That's the "in" place near the university with all the usual things all nearby like a convenience store, barber,restaurants,books stores,bank, ATMs, postal office, pubs,and other things.And a good residential area too. It was quite a thing to call every phone number and schedule an appointment whenever you saw a "For Rent" signboard.

The silence sounds different here.It is odd, but every silence has a sound associated with it.The silence is India was different.It was a busier silence in a way.But over here it is melancholy. Sometimes the silence is so loud that you can hear your own thoughts.God's omnipresence has new meaning when you go to Hindu temple and see a normally suited priest, in a dhoti ,reciting prayers, but at the same time addressing fellow devotees in English.

There's something about America.And like most of them have a false image of our country, we have of theirs in quite a lot of respects.It is a dangerous and unsafe accepted, but Americans ain't dumb and they are nice people.In fact they might seem like that because they don't meddle in others' personal affairs.They are polite and helpful to a surprising extent.But they respect individuals' privacy.They respect the words "sorry" and "thank you". I would rather say that we wouldn't have been that helpful to a foreign national in our country. Or maybe I feel this because I stay in a student populated area. There have been many videos on youtube and similar sites and emails which talk about general dumbness of an American dude.But I guess these things circulate to make that reader feel good about themselves. The fact is that Americans are very intelligent and smart. Its just that they are not bothered about showing of their mental prowess and possibly lazy enough to outsource work to us. What would we do if we could afford afford to get things done from others?And its a vicious cycle, as they keep getting richer by this. And lets say they are dumb, but there is at least one in hundred Americans who is enough for our hundred. And that's why they are ahead.

Americans also come in two categories.One who are totally fit,and the others who are totally not.On one hand you can see fit men and women jogging in the coldest weather and enjoying it and on the other hand you can those who are so unfit and fat, that they cant even walk. And the ones who jog ,don't have a sense of time. Its only in America that I have seen people jogging at 2 in the afternoon.

I have never been on my own before, and this sudden surge or responsibilities does bog you down sometimes. But you do go ahead, one step at a time, hoping not to falter.I still remember my mother beaming with pride, whenever she used to tell others that her son is going to "America" for higher studies. And that beaming face was still beaming even after knowing that they would have to go through a lot of trouble to support me financially. And that is a very big responsibility.

It's also very easy to go insane and get frustrated and go crazy in this weird country. Sometimes there's no logic to things.They are just plain weird. Water costs more than petrol? You never know what might happen on a given day.You might do the biggest screw up of your life, or you might get an assistantship and be on the top of the world, you might get a free pizza or it might be just another day full of assignments and good coffee.Yeah , at least the coffee is definitely good in this country.And then over the weekend, you go to some nice place, and introspect, often involuntarily,and promise yourself you will work harder and see that dream, "that dream" of yours happening in front of you. After all, it only takes a dream to change the future..at least as long as you are in America.

But everything said and still doing, it is going to be a great learning experience.

Nachiket Mehta

10th day of 2007's November