One of the wonders of life is the people whom an invisible hand (providence?) place along our paths just at the right point of time and space. The latest of such encounters occurred to me early this month when I saw the name of one of my earlier students (25 years back!) suddenly appear on my mental screen just out of the blue while was translating. We had an ideal teacher-student relationship mixed with deep friendship. We parted as I left for Germany and she for the United States for study purposes. Without thinking much, but knowing I would find her after a couple of clicks (she was extremely bright and ambitious), I googled her name and her field of specialization. The first link showed her picture giving a speech at an international conference, and a further link led me to the website of her working place. On seeing the country code, I thought she was somewhere in the United States, but then it was the area code that struck me almost breathless. She was in Montreal, just one hour's drive from my place! Considering the probability of being placed within 120 km on the earth from among all its possible longitude-latitude variations, it seemed a miracle.
It turned out that she had an occasion to think of me intensely one of those days, and there was no doubt that telepathy worked. We also agreed that her mother (died a year ago - I knew her very well, too) led us together. She entered into my life again with her two pretty daughters, the elder one majoring International Development Studies at McGill University and quite an accomplished amateur film maker, and the younger one attending Dawson College and waiting to be admitted to one of the renowned art schools she has applied for. Their parents, physically and emotionally separate for some years now, gave them best combinations of excellent genes which are on their way towards full blossoming. Yesterday, Sophia posted her second video film on Vimeo. It is an impressively philosophical piece with mingled scenes of real and surreal, sublime and banal, and fundamental and peripheral. She also composed and played the music in it. The paintings in the rooms are all creations of the young Sonia.
I feel that this crossroad was prepared long time ago by the life force (in whatever name we may call it) and we have been moving towards it, and voilà, the time has come and here we are. The peculiar parallel in our lives is that we both have found our soul mates. The chance of meeting a soul mate being even rarer than the chance of coincidentally living in the same area on the earth, we are sure that we need each other's support and encouragement to make the best out of what life gave us.
It turned out that she had an occasion to think of me intensely one of those days, and there was no doubt that telepathy worked. We also agreed that her mother (died a year ago - I knew her very well, too) led us together. She entered into my life again with her two pretty daughters, the elder one majoring International Development Studies at McGill University and quite an accomplished amateur film maker, and the younger one attending Dawson College and waiting to be admitted to one of the renowned art schools she has applied for. Their parents, physically and emotionally separate for some years now, gave them best combinations of excellent genes which are on their way towards full blossoming. Yesterday, Sophia posted her second video film on Vimeo. It is an impressively philosophical piece with mingled scenes of real and surreal, sublime and banal, and fundamental and peripheral. She also composed and played the music in it. The paintings in the rooms are all creations of the young Sonia.
I feel that this crossroad was prepared long time ago by the life force (in whatever name we may call it) and we have been moving towards it, and voilà, the time has come and here we are. The peculiar parallel in our lives is that we both have found our soul mates. The chance of meeting a soul mate being even rarer than the chance of coincidentally living in the same area on the earth, we are sure that we need each other's support and encouragement to make the best out of what life gave us.
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