Murphy’s Angel

Last couple of weeks have been extremely interesting. I was on my way to Bandra (a suburb in Mumbai), and on SV road, a big dumper fell in love with my car. And in a spontaneous public display of affection, it kissed my car. It was more than a kiss, it was a passionate smooch. Like every damsel, who has been smooched by an unwanted stranger, I was angry and the scars were huge. I don’t know about my car, but I definitely did not enjoy the smooch.

It required some physical healing, and the mental scars on me were huge in terms of the cash outflow. A great start to the festive season. Another day, I was travelling to go on an official visit to a beautiful campus in a business school, nestled in the hills. The management had been kind enough to invite my family and we were all set to go... when my four year kid got viral fever. Very nice, family plan aborted, I decided to go on my own.

And then my friend Murphy visited me. For the uninitiated, there is a Murphy’s law which says “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Little did I know that Murphy had decided to engulf me in a bear hug.

Having not played golf for nearly two weeks as the car was in a spa undergoing healing, I planned to practice at the course on the way to Pune. On my way, I was stuck in traffic at the most unexpected of places. As a result, I reached the course ten minutes late and the course had closed. Murphy had just started playing his tricks. I decided to drive directly to Pune for my engagement with the business school.

On the way, in the ghats, the car was struggling to accelerate. I realised there is something wrong. Somehow, I managed to complete the stretch of the expressway and parked it at the garage. The clutch plate had burned and on the verge of collapse and I had to leave the car. My destination was still fifteen miles away. Somehow I reached my destination, in a foul mood, cursing my luck.

Out of the blue, I received a call from an angel. I consider myself to be blessed as I have a lot of angels hovering around my life who hold my hand from time to time. This angel was calling me after a few years. The mood was already foul and just needed an outlet, somebody to speak to. I narrated my entire sob story to her and she in turn congratulated me and said, “Congratulations, you are one extremely lucky man.”

I was aghast, here I have destiny working against me, my son is not well, my vacation with family has to be aborted, my car had an accident and a break down within two weeks, stuck in the middle of nowhere and this lady was congratulating me!! She was passing off my bad luck as good luck!!! How preposterous!!

And then she explained. In the accident where the dumper decided to kiss my car, I was unscathed and unscratched. Every few thousand kilometres, we are destined to meet with an accident. Even Sachin Tendulkar gets out on zero. I got my turn of the accident and was lucky to escape without a scratch. Amazing, I never thought of it in this fashion.

I still wasn’t a full convert. I asked her to explain my road trip incident. She said, firstly count yourself lucky that your son developed fever, else they would have been in the car, when the engine began stalling. Imagine being stranded in the middle of nowhere with your four year old and wife. She also said, you were lucky, that you drove your car till the garage. Imagine if the car had been stuck in the middle of the Mumbai – Pune expressway, middle of nowhere and not a garage in sight.

Still not completely convinced, I asked , “What about the traffic and not being able to play golf?” She replied, “If you had played golf, you would have wasted an hour and a half and maybe reached the garage after dark. Was there a guarantee that the garage would be open?”

Each sentence was a thunderbolt, destroying my negative thoughts. What an amazing deduction!! All along I had been cursing my bad luck for the multiple mishaps in my life. When I think of ‘What else could have gone wrong?’, I get scared. Looking back at the incidents in a dispassionate manner, I realise I have been extremely lucky!!

Being alone in campus at night, had me reflecting on various incidents in my career, which I attributed to ‘bad luck’. When I had people in my team leaving, my statements being misinterpreted, not getting that promotion when I wanted it, even one bad training session, were all attributed to bad luck. Looking back I realise that I had to work extremely hard, to surpass these setbacks. I always used to say, that I have never got things easy. But in hindsight, it is this hard work that has taught me so many things. I would today like to think that all these have been learning experiences rather than tests by fire.

And then suddenly a thought struck me. Why did this angel call me today after so many years? She had no agenda; it was just a courtesy call. The hand of God is clearly evident. The angel is just the messenger. The beauty is, I was travelling to a business school to impart knowledge, and it is here sitting on campus, that my perspective has changed.

It’s time to start counting my blessings... and I need to go back to school!!!