Serendipity

2 and a half months ago, my life resembled that of a still lake. Not many ripples. Just being the way it is. In short, placid... 2 and a half months ago, i was sent on a long pending short term onsite (Philadelphia), which lasted all of 2 weeks.
Apart from going to complete some assignment, i was to meet this man i had been chatting with for a week.
We spoke, both in disbelief that i was actually flying to Philly. This was far too coincidental.
No onsite travel from my company is complete without delays, last minute surprises, manager's sudden realisation that the entire setup would be in UK but i'd be travelling to the US, so on and so forth. This obviously resulted in much, although avoidable, confusion. Amidst all of this, there seemed to be something that propelled me towards my journey.
Preparations galore, last minute checks, and i was off. Sitting in the airport with lots of time to spare, i thought about this person i was going to meet. Someone who was an absolute stranger a week ago but was now a good friend. 22 hours of flight were filled with 'butterflies in the stomach' feeling.
So I land, after some really good chocolate mousse cake, and enter an almost empty lobby. I hoped to recognise him through 2 photographs. No one. I walked around, strange new place, damn 'international roaming activated for incoming calls only' was not latching onto any network. Vodafone sucks. Might as well say this while i'm on that topic. I walked down and got the airport helpdesk to call a number. I hear a voice which says "Hey! Welcome.. I'll be there in 10 minutes". Ok so i wait again. Like 22 hours was not enough, right?
And finally we meet. Pleansantries exchanged and all... And then began my whirlwind of a 2 week stint in Philadelphia.
Sandeep, the person i went to meet, and I got along like a house on fire. We spoke almost almost everyday till 12 or 1 in the night. Unheard of from me, for those who know me well. We spoke about almost everything under the sun. And then 4 days after we met, we realised that we should be married. 11 days after we began speaking. That one day, that one decision has changed me life completely. As has similar decisions in others' lives, i'm sure.
I found a friend, a confidant, a life partner all in less than 2 weeks. Strange are the ways of love. Work, which i went onsite for (need to say this because almost no one believes that i went there on work), faded into the background. No amount of nonsensical confusion took anything away from those magical evenings in Philadelphia. If i were in bangalore while that confusion at work prevailed, i'd have been cursing life, people, everything. But as i said, love's strange. Makes the world go around, as they say.
This entire fiasco has made me believe that there is some thing called as Destiny. Something that kept delaying that onsite till Sandeep and I were to meet. Something that made me travel despite wanting to for 2 years only to meet him.
Which is why i've named this post as Seredipity. The dictionary defines this word as 'The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident'. And this is just what it was... An extremely beautiful and fortunate discovery..