Picking up Becky Butler at the Airport

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  Hyderabad, India
Friday, August 25, 2006

Note to self - Call ahead to see if the plane is on time! To paraphrase the old saying, assuming things tends to make a jackass out of somebody and it was my turn this evening. :)

Becky was flying in on KLM and I offered to meet her at the airport so that she would see a friendly face when she got off the plane. Since both Laura and I arrived on time and were through the airport quickly, I assumed that the Dutch would be almost as efficient as the Germans and that everything would be peachy. Her plane was scheduled to arrive at 1:10AM, so we left the office at midnight to make sure that we got there in time and found a good space to wait. Soon after arrival, however, Younus (my driver) pointed out to me that the arrival board indicated that the flight was delayed and was not expected until 2:50AM. Sigh.

We decided to wait there because it didn't really pay to go back to the guest house and then head out again in an hour or so. Both Younus and I know a lot more about the airport than we did before - nothing to do but walk around.

Towards the end of our wait, I ended up in another conversation with someone else that was waiting for the same plane to arrive. This time, however, it was another young professional. It turns out that he works for Computer Services Corporation ("CSC") in Hyderabad on the IT side of the house. He was waiting for a friend of his that was coming back from a two month outsourcing stint at Motorola in Schaumburg (another entry for the small world database).

Our conversation was nothing like the one that I reported on earlier. Instead of discussing the questionable need to destroy Israel, we talked about our careers, our family and friends, and hopes for the future. In other words, it was just one of those random conversations with strangers that turned out to be very meaningful. I have heard the phrase, "The Professional Class" before, but was not, and am still not, exactly sure what it means. My thought, after the conversation however, is that maybe it is the recognition that people with similar educational and professional backgrounds are more like each other than they are different no matter where they happen to call home. Just as I had never been to India, he had never been to the US, and yet somehow we still made a connection. It was surprising to me how similar our experiences were. Even our complaints were similar - like how hard it is to find the perfect woman and that part of the problem has to do with the fact that we work too much. Apparently, work/life balance is not an issue solely for accounting firms.

About the time that the conversation was winding down, the passengers started to walk out. Unfortunately, it was only a start and people really didn't start to come through the doors for almost another hour. I finally spotted Becky about 4AM and was amazed at how well she held up as the flight had been a bit challenging right from the start. The flight had been delayed a bit in Minneapolis and then she sat on the runway in Amsterdam for over two hours. Needless to say, we got her and her luggage loaded up as quickly as possible. Swarma met us at Becky's room and we got her squared away quickly. By the time I got in bed, it was almost 5AM and my roommate Brian would be off to work in about a half hour.

Two more friends to pick up at the airport...I'm meeting Sadeta next week and Becky and I are picking up Robin a few days later. Given that every trip to the airport has been interesting, I wonder what the next two have in store for me....

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