Friending the way to India

 Standing in line at an airport in India six years ago, I met a young boy who was returning to the country with his family after living in New Jersey. “Hey, I’m from New Jersey,” I said.  The conversation continued until we discovered we had both been born in the same hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. — some 45 years apart.  

Such small-world encounters have multiplied as I plan my coming stay in India: The daughter of one contact in Delhi is the student of an old friend who teaches at the American Embassy School.  Another Fulbright-Nehru scholar who will also be based in Chennai teaches at my son’s college. A friend of a friend, a professor at a local university, is a scholar of Chennai’s billboard artists. She’ll arrive in Chennai in January to visit her parents, who live close to the school where I will teach. She gave me their phone number. 

This is what happens when you step out your door into a bigger world. More serendipity to come, I’m sure!