Day Six: A Character-Building Experience
Today’s Prompt: Who’s the most interesting person (or people) you’ve met this year?

“Yes Ma’m, it will be done.” The voice at the other end of the phone sounded confident of getting the job done. The job was simple enough – just making sure that a hotel room was reserved but I’ve often known things to go wrong for simply no reason at all. I was intrigued by the voice. It sounded soft, polished and musical. Yet it was the voice of a man in charge which he was – he was in charge of Neptune Shipping’s overseas operations. Normally a man’s name gives away his caste, class and culture. In India particularly from the last name one can easily identify what part of the country a person is from, his caste and his religion. But reading Mr. P’s name on the email gave me absolutely no idea where he came from. P Kumar is as bland as they come. Of course it narrowed down so many things – for instance, with a second name like Kumar he could well be  Christian but he definitely wasn’t a Muslim with a name like Kumar at the end. Kumar also meant that he wasn’t from my part of the country. His accent which is normally a dead giveaway was unidentifiable, his diction clear and his English perfect. So I gathered that he was a well educated Indian, the kind that can fit into any cosmopolitan society.

Hearing his voice and reading his detailed email giving reasons for why he recommended a particular hotel, I tried to imagine what he was like : middle aged, bespectacled and moustachioed like most Indian men.

A tall , handsome young man got out of a new looking Audi.

“Pleased to meet you ma’am,” said the now familiar voice. His hair slicked back and clean shaven, he looked like a young school boy with his tie flapping in the breeze. I could see his jacket flung carelessly in the back seat and was surprised that he took all this trouble to dress so formally on a semi-working day. His hand shake was firm, his hands soft as he disarmed me with a charming smile displaying white, even teeth.

“So how was the flight? Comfortable I hope?” Within minutes we were speeding down the road on our way to lunch at a restaurant he thought would be perfect for our vegetarian exchanging pleasantries that strangers exchange.  P was not only atypical of the person from the region he hailed from but surprised me by being modern with traditional values. Without being garroulous he was talkative, well informed and by the end of the evening I felt that I’d known him all my life.