Apr 5, 2024

A venture into serendipity

collection of serendipitous encounters, experiences and gratitude.

As you grow older, you begin to gain a shape from the blob of matter you've been. It helps you understand literature, talk with adults and understand their conversation and generally, be more mature and analyse things deeply.

The more I grow older, the more I meet people that share my ideas. Maybe because I gained some experience and now my opinions and ideas are more sure to me.

There happens a major transition in our lives when we finally find the values that guide us. This may or may not be related to puberty and emotional maturity, as there have been many instances of people not following any philosophy and running around wild, with the flow.

But besides age, tons of other things matter when you go out into the real world. Some encounters may be horrifying. Such as, you may get stuck with a group that makes you feel outlandish. Yet, some encounters will be so blissful and you'd often think about it later in your life.

When I set out to travel alone to the nearest city for the first time, I had such a serendipitous experience with the person sitting next to me. I glad I chose that seat.

We didn't talk until we completed 60% of our journey. I kept scribbling notes in my commonplace book while listening to the audiobook of Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism.

I could see that he noticed it a couple of times, and I could see that he was a tiny bit surprised. I decided to strike up a conversation.

That man was a teacher (as I had apparently guessed from his attire and body language). But more importantly, he was a wise person. He was aware of the problems with systems, current state of education and the need of critical thinking in a modern student. We talked about research, math, philosophy, politics, theology. It was fabulous. I didn't even know that I had reached my destination.

And that is why you should go out in the world and explore, for yourself. Sure, you maybe skeptical at first, but don't judge prematurely^[1].

I am still grateful to meet him, as I learnt a lot from him. Who knows, maybe I'll meet him again someday?

I recall one more such instant.

About a year ago, I was in an airplane. And the person beside me was a musician (I saw him put some string instrument into the cabin storage; it was a lute). I noticed that he was listening to a recording of him playing the lute in a studio and being completely immersed in it. After mustering enough courage, I asked him about it.

And soon, I was listening to his recording and was talking to him about music production and experience playing instruments. This is another serendipitous experience as he was also at some point a metal guitarist (just like me!). Another thoughtful and great encounter.

Btw, check Bonny out on Spotify:

In the last couple of months, I have been lucky to be a part of a community which offers such serendipity. And I have met people who are just amazing.

This is where I show my gratitude to Saaim, Vihaan, Sampurn, Divya, Richard, Abhi, Shiven and Jord. Thank you for the invaluable things you've taught me.

So what is the point of writing this?

To remind the future to continue venturing and approaching people, and be more open.
And to convince you to go out, live, meet some great people and make new friends.

Happy Exploring!

Footnotes