The One With The Baby

I am back again with a daily anecdote of my experiences and an account of my actions and behaviour. You would see a lot of “The One With … ” on Myself Speaking™ as I consider myself as a die-hard F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan. Here is the first one of those.

So, as I have already told you that I did pretty well in a competitive examination namely CAT (required to be cleared for admission to IIMs). As a result, one of the institutions had asked me to get three teachers/professors to fill up a recommendation letter. After a lot of screening (searching for professors who would atleast remember my name after almost 4 years studying at my institution) and all, I found that I could identify exactly 3 (Thank God!) professors to whom I could request.

So, last week on Monday I had given them the letters to be filled. While one of them agreed to fill it up and give it back on the next day, the other two had agreed to give it by Thursday. So, as a sincere student, I collected one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. The other professor who agreed for Thursday was not in his room and so I decided (after waiting for 15 minutes) to take it the next day.

On Friday, he was again not in his room, implying that I would be able to collect it only on Monday. So, somehow the weekend passed and I kept on wondering what all good stuff he may be writing on the letter. On Monday, after some 2 or 3 visits, I finally found him in his room. He had actually forgotten all about the form and asked me to give some more time. The reason he gave was that he had a baby few days back.

So, there I was standing for my letter and not ready for the words I heard. I did not know how to respond to such situations. What does the other person expect? I really don’t know. So, after continuing with my small talk (and my brain processing what should be said next regarding the baby) I congratulated him. And as there was not much time I could give him with the form (as the submission date was fast approaching) he obliged me by filling the form then and there.

I took the form and started going my way thinking about all the sentences I could have uttered and all the questions I could have asked while in conversation with someone who has just informed me that he has become a parent. What came to my mind was
1. How is the baby?
2. Is it a boy or a girl?
3. How is the mother doing?

I talked to one of my friends Mr. AR and he narrated his similar experience when he got a message on his messenger from his mentor saying “Daughter at 3pm”. He too was taken aback not by lack of words but for comprehending the meaning of the message. However, he recovered and had asked for a treat from the parent. His response was atleast better than my late congratulations.