Generally, I web check in advance to get a seat of my
preference in a long flight but this time I forgot to web check-in and was
sandwiched between two passengers on my flight from Delhi to Toronto.
As my connecting flight took off from Amsterdam to Toronto, I started chatting with an elderly gentleman sitting to my left to stay awake and to avoid jet lag as I had to be in the office next day.
The conversation grew from general to more specific. He was so attentive whenever I spoke, occasionally composing emails in between. We spoke about variety of topics including how US is different in Trump era, how India is changing in 21st century, harsh winters in Canada, Niagara Falls, The Taj Mahal, how some countries are averse to English and which is the best country to live in right now. We settled in for our home countries to be the best in the world and why wouldn’t it be as India is the most beautiful country and Belgium sells best waffles and chocolates.
As my connecting flight took off from Amsterdam to Toronto, I started chatting with an elderly gentleman sitting to my left to stay awake and to avoid jet lag as I had to be in the office next day.
The conversation grew from general to more specific. He was so attentive whenever I spoke, occasionally composing emails in between. We spoke about variety of topics including how US is different in Trump era, how India is changing in 21st century, harsh winters in Canada, Niagara Falls, The Taj Mahal, how some countries are averse to English and which is the best country to live in right now. We settled in for our home countries to be the best in the world and why wouldn’t it be as India is the most beautiful country and Belgium sells best waffles and chocolates.
We joked about how India is different from entire Europe put
together as in India everything changes in about 200 KMs from food to language to custom
to dressing sense.
When it was time for the meal, I even asked him to opt for
Indian meal and told him the benefit of serving yogurt in Indian meals as we
eat spicy food and it helps digest the food faster.
After a long flight of 11 hours which took more than the
expected, when it was time to say good bye I asked him for his email and
instead he game me his business card which read ‘Patrick Gerard, CEO, Rompa
Group’.
I was amazed to see how a CEO of more than 100 years old
company is flying in economy and talks like a simple man, is always
eager to know more and to learn something new.
I understood a couple of things after that conversation that
as you go up in the ladder, more than anything else it is your humility that
matters the most and listening matters more than talking. He gave me lessons
that always speak with humility, spend wisely and help others in need.
4 comments:
U hav learned that quality earlier...As I know ur too plite,humble n more n more..
Thanks @DILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP :)
Sharing is a two way process say it for knowledge, help, food etc.. A process where mutual respect towards each other leads to a meaningful relationships. Often seen that when one person is sharing his/her views the person facing him pretends to listen where as mind plays something entirely different in such cases the process of sharing is broken as the knowledge gained by the person listening is incomplete as subconscious mind captures only few things in presence of conscious mind. In your case both the sender and receiver were eager to listen and share hence the circle of knowledge get complete and this leads to the imprinting of a person's character in one's mind.
Imagine if the sender sensed that listener has become a captive of noise (a term used to define disturbance in mass communication) he or she may lose interest in giving any kind of further information to the other, also mind makes a note about such kind of people who pretend to listen or who are not empathy listners. The mind would programm itself to a mode where even the slightest hint of noise in listeners mind will alter the sharer to not to provide any knowledge or information to the listener from the beginning.
Agreed completely on the being humble part of your writing. True, the only way to succeed in ones life is by giving equal opportunity to others who work with you at office or at home. A balance is required to have a successful life along with attitude to give new ideas and thoughts to enter into our life.
@Bidisha biswas: your comment seems longer than my post but yes you are right. Both has to be attentive in a meaningful conversation.
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