Those towering buildings, those opulent cars, those brisk walking savants, those coffee paper-mugs - it was 11 Wall Street! And, as always, there had to be a horde of jobless people standing there, closely noticing the people with jobs walk. There was another horde, who wanted to get clicked with that stock exchange in the backyard. And then, there was a confused boy, quietly stuck to the stairs beside, watching what those with and those without jobs were up to. He did have a job, just that it wasn't there.
Suddenly, a gasping old man sat beside. In an elegant British accent, he said, "You don't look like the one, but do you have a cigarette by any chance?"
"I have a pack, but I wonder if we can smoke here", said the confused boy. He was in awe of the guards standing in front of "The NYSE". But, he did light up, when the feeling of enjoying a smoke at the "Wall Street" overcame his fear of everything else in the world.
The two sat down, each with a cigarette in his hand. And cigarettes held between fingers make the weirdest of people talk. From life in India to life at Wall Street. From living in a suburb in Mumbai to living in SoHo in Manhattan. From a back-end Management Consulting role to a front-end Investment Banking role. From a new joiner Analyst to a high-level executive. From immature phrases to sentences of wisdom. From a role model for the boy to a peek into the past for the man. And everything else!
The conversations were so brisk that the confused boy who had a pack of cigarettes when he came to Wall Street was now just left with 10. He did find a way to cut the conversations short. He had a flight to catch and the old man felt obliged to get him a taxi, when there was none. What next? Who could get a taxi at 10 am in Wall Street!
Suddenly, the man said, "Let me get you one!". He did something with his iPhone and within a matter of seconds, there was a Limousine beside. The boy didn't want to miss his flight, and just thought, "What the heck! How much more will it cost? Let me just take it!" He knew he had an American Express card with him.
He reached JFK, and asked the driver how much he needed to pay. The driver, in his African American accent, just replied, "Dude, it has already been charged to your credit card." The boy, totally surprised, tried to understand something he never could. There was a concept where you could book a cab with your iPhone and the amount gets charged to your credit card. Welcome to Uber!
Then, he thought of paying gratitude to the British man, only to realize he had left his visiting card along with the 10 cigarettes in those staircases beside the NYSE. He remembered a sentence the wise old man had said, "Sometimes - one of those very few times - good things happen to good people and they miss out to thank those better people who made those good things happen."
Dedicated to those forgotten better people who make good things happen to good people. Cheers!
Suddenly, a gasping old man sat beside. In an elegant British accent, he said, "You don't look like the one, but do you have a cigarette by any chance?"
"I have a pack, but I wonder if we can smoke here", said the confused boy. He was in awe of the guards standing in front of "The NYSE". But, he did light up, when the feeling of enjoying a smoke at the "Wall Street" overcame his fear of everything else in the world.
The two sat down, each with a cigarette in his hand. And cigarettes held between fingers make the weirdest of people talk. From life in India to life at Wall Street. From living in a suburb in Mumbai to living in SoHo in Manhattan. From a back-end Management Consulting role to a front-end Investment Banking role. From a new joiner Analyst to a high-level executive. From immature phrases to sentences of wisdom. From a role model for the boy to a peek into the past for the man. And everything else!
The conversations were so brisk that the confused boy who had a pack of cigarettes when he came to Wall Street was now just left with 10. He did find a way to cut the conversations short. He had a flight to catch and the old man felt obliged to get him a taxi, when there was none. What next? Who could get a taxi at 10 am in Wall Street!
Suddenly, the man said, "Let me get you one!". He did something with his iPhone and within a matter of seconds, there was a Limousine beside. The boy didn't want to miss his flight, and just thought, "What the heck! How much more will it cost? Let me just take it!" He knew he had an American Express card with him.
He reached JFK, and asked the driver how much he needed to pay. The driver, in his African American accent, just replied, "Dude, it has already been charged to your credit card." The boy, totally surprised, tried to understand something he never could. There was a concept where you could book a cab with your iPhone and the amount gets charged to your credit card. Welcome to Uber!
Then, he thought of paying gratitude to the British man, only to realize he had left his visiting card along with the 10 cigarettes in those staircases beside the NYSE. He remembered a sentence the wise old man had said, "Sometimes - one of those very few times - good things happen to good people and they miss out to thank those better people who made those good things happen."
Dedicated to those forgotten better people who make good things happen to good people. Cheers!
