It has happened to me so frequently, that i no longer question it. It has been my relationship with the world wide web.

Out of the blue, out of nowhere – i will come across a page that I am not even actively looking for – and that page is what i have been seeking.

Many moons ago, while doing research on the Grand Tour of the Internet – my first show as director – i found the anchor of the show through such a search process.

Much later, when i launched Zee Education – the web – and my completly non linear search pattern – helped me time and again to find people, and matter that others had given up on. And that simply dropped into my lap while i was looking for something else.

A few weeks ago while searching for the connection between our kind of Indians and Native Americans, I came across Maitri’s blog – Maitri and i share a gotra and therefore are kin. The search came from a story my Grandmom told me.

Our family is supposed to have come from Modern day Afghanistan. Our ancestor is supposed to have been a minor warlord who decided to lay down arms and search for the ultimate truth. Many millenia later – we are technically “tamillians” but look at our family and you will be astonished at the racial mix. There are members who have distinctly mongloid features. There are those who will be at complete ease in Somalia. There are those who look disctinctly Semetic. There are those who look distinctly Meditarranian. There are those who look well blended. My aunt who lives in Texas claims that as a family we resemble the native americans who live in the reservation next door. And i remember reading something where a Hopi Indian God was linked back to Kubera – the ancient Dravidian God of wealth. Who are we? Where do we come from? And these are questions that we have ocassionaly talked about, as a family, but not much. My own father’s irreverent comment used to be that there was a Chinese travelling salesman in the south somewhere in the late 19th century. Atleast that explained the mongloid features. My grandmom was not amused 🙂

I didn’t even know there would be someone else out there on the web who would be part of the clan and have similar interests – but bingo i come across someone who does. And just to complicate matters even further – my grandad was a geologist

And today, i run into my cousin in law searching for something else. And this is after a decade. when i knew him his major interest is psychiatry. Today it includes anthropology. I sent a hi mail. And his wife, my cousin, is coming to India today.
Serindipity, karma or just plain coincidence ?