This is the story of a visit I made to my mom’s place. Since it was just an overnight stay and then back, I initially thought of taking my own vehicle. But then again, I hate driving alone. So I figured—why not hire a driver for my car? That way, I could sit back, browse through my Audible library, and enjoy the passing scenery without the stress of driving.

The driver was a young lad, maybe in his early thirties, and spoke our native language. That immediately made the interaction feel warmer and more comfortable. Though we didn’t talk much—most of the time I had my headphones on, finishing up some calls to my friends and catching up on my audiobooks—the journey was pleasant.

Eventually, we reached my mom’s town. I ended up staying for two nights. The next morning, we decided to start our return journey. My mom did what she usually does—generally chatted with the driver. I noticed them talking, though I didn’t hear the specifics of their conversation.

As we started back, I was about to put on my headphones again and lose myself in Audible, when suddenly the driver looked back and asked, “Did you work in the Department of Space?” That completely caught me off guard. I nodded, surprised. Then he said—of course, in our local language—that he had always been fascinated by anything related to space. That was another shocker. I was both amused and intrigued.

I was also wondering—how did he come to know that I had worked for the Department of Space? Then I connected the dots. It must have come up in his conversation with my mom. She wouldn’t miss any opportunity to talk great things about her sons.

He then quizzed me further: What exactly did I do for space technology?

Now I was genuinely excited to share. You don’t often meet such an empathetic listener out of the blue. I began explaining how my work was related to satellites that took images of the earth’s surface, which were eventually used to create maps—essentially, remote sensing satellites. I tried to keep the language as simple and layman-friendly as I could. He listened attentively, occasionally asking insightful questions. It turned into a really engaging discussion.

I went on to tell him about the different types of satellites, the heights at which they orbit the earth, and why those particular altitudes are chosen. To my surprise, he grasped everything quite well.

Then came another twist—he casually mentioned that he had loved the movie Interstellar.

After more such exchanges, I couldn’t help my curiosity any longer. I asked him what his educational background was. And then came the biggest surprise of the entire trip: he told me he had an engineering degree. He had studied electronics engineering.

All that effort I had taken to simplify the conversation now seemed unnecessary. Thank God I hadn’t overdone it.

Of course, I had to ask—why was he doing this menial job then?

What followed was a surprisingly candid and heartfelt story. He told me that he had once worked in software development but wanted to switch careers to pursue acting. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out as he had hoped. When he returned, he couldn’t land another job in the software industry. Financial pressure forced him to take up whatever work came his way. Since he knew how to drive, he chose this path for the time being—until he finds something better paying and more aligned with his skills.

That journey, which I had thought would just be a quiet ride with Audible in the background, turned out to be a surprisingly rich and humbling conversation—with someone I might have otherwise dismissed as just a driver.