I took the bus to Yangjae today, and then came to Chungmuro by subway, like I occasionaly do. I was sitting in the seat reserved for the handicapped, when the person sitting next to me said to me something in Korean. I responded, "English". He asked, "What time"? "Nine o'clock", I said as I showed him the watch. And from there the conversation progressed its usual way - "Where are you from?" ... "I want to visit India" ... "How long have you been here" ... and so on and so forth. The guy was middle-aged, neatly dressed, looked educated, and was very polite and cultured. After a short time I got a hunch about him that I wanted to verify.

"Where do you work?", I asked. "I am retired", he said. "What did you do before retirement?", I persisted. "I was a teacher." Yes, that's it! I was right! Somehow I knew he had to be a professor! I didn't know how I got that hunch, but for some reason, I thought that way. I was amazed because I couldn't comprehend why I thought he should be a professor. It's only now, while writing this blog, that I am getting some idea. "Middle-aged, neatly dressed, educated, polite and cultured". So many people I know who fit this description are in teaching profession! May be people in teaching are much more likely to be good-natured, down to earth and friendly than us in the corporate world.

If that's true then the next question that pops up is why are people in teaching more likely to be good-natured? Is it because they are not poisoned by the misgivings of the corporate world? Is it that we are forced to be totally focussed on our objectives, while those in teaching are free to be more altruistic? I think it is something like that, but I am sure.