25 Weird Coincidences People Find Hard To Explain

We tend to dismiss little coincidences as being a mere accident and attribute them to totally random chance. But perhaps it’s an indication of the matrix and something somewhere is glitching, causing these one-in-a-million incidents. Either way, it’s an interesting theory to explore, and folks online have been sharing their personal experiences of unexplainable coincidences that have actually happened to them. 

#1 The night my daughter died in a double hit-and-run in Colorado, a stranger stopped to help her and was witness to the second car that hit her, ending her life. He had been trying to help her though; he called for an ambulance and although it was ultimately unsuccessful, every effort was made to save her life. That stranger is a hero as far as I’m concerned.

Image source: Judy Lujan, Mikhail Nilov

The man who tried to help was very traumatized by what he had witnessed and had to change jobs so that he no longer had to daily pass by the place where my daughter died as he went to and from work. Unrelated to the accident, he and his wife got rid of their landline when they moved. I wanted very much to thank him but although I had tried every way I knew, his job had changed, he no longer had a telephone I could call 411 for and he no longer lived in the same place. I finally decided that simply being grateful would have to be enough, even if I couldn’t tell him myself.
Two years later, I’m sitting at the dinner table in a hostel in London and strike up a conversation with a guy also having dinner there. He was from the same area as me. He remembered my daughter’s death not just from it being in the news, but because the husband of one of his co-workers had stopped and tried to help the young lady.
OMG.

To make a long story short, he put me in touch with his co-worker and I was able to email her and express my thanks and gratitude for her husband’s efforts that night. She emailed me back and said that although her husband was desperately sorry he couldn’t save her, he was grateful that she didn’t have to die alone. He is a hero in my eyes and I’m so glad I got to let him know how grateful our family is. May he and his loved ones be abundantly blessed.

#2 When my brother died, it took 2 years before I could afford to spread his ashes at the family plot at a remote cemetery in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia because I couldn’t afford to fly there.

Image source: Anne Weeks, Kateryna Hliznitsova

Until I could get there, his ashes sat in their box in my family room in Delaware. When we finally traveled north, my husband and two cousins accompanied me to the cemetery. We planned to spread some of his ashes by my father and grandparents’ headstone and then place the rest in the brook that runs through the graveyard out to the sea. It was an overcast, misty day on the Cape Breton coast. We got out of the car and began walking to my father’s gravestone when we suddenly heard music. We all stopped, wondering from where it came. Lo and behold, it was my cell phone. Somehow, the google play app had activated. Now, just so you know, I rarely use google play on my phone, I had not activated it, and I always keep my phone on priority only silence. However, it was playing music. When I pulled it from my jacket pocket, I realized it was playing The Rankin Family – a Canadian band who my brother not only loved but who he had introduced to me well before they became known in the US. The band’s music had always been a common bond for us. Then, the song was one I had never heard before, and it was about someone going away forever. Needless to say, my husband, cousins, and I were just a little freaked out. But, in the end, I knew it was my brother’s way of saying goodbye. I will never forget it.

#3 This happened to me yesterday.

Image source: Michael Scur, freepik

I was at a bar in Oceanside California and noticed one of the barbacks was wearing a shirt with a silhouette of Ohio on it. I grew up in Ohio, so I asked where he was from:

“I’m from Cleveland.”

“Me too. A little south of it.”

“We actually know each other. You trained me at a restaurant and gave me my first AFI album”

I’m 33 years old. When I was 19 or 20 I trained this 16 year old kid named Pete how to bus tables at an Italian restaurant — and apparently gave him an AFI album (which probably explains why I can’t find it). That he recognized me after over a decade and that we both happened to be in the same place in a random bar in Southern California is pretty incredible to me.

#4 I was headed in for a job interview several years back. As I’m walking in, two other men are approaching the door from different angles.

Image source: Brian Rayl, Tahir osman

One of them speeds up to cut off the other and get in the door first, and the other walks in, shaking his head in disbelief. As I walk in behind them, the first guy runs to the elevator and presses the button, not holding the elevator for the other guy and me. Again, the second guy just shakes his head and we wait for the next elevator. I say “Can you believe some people?” And we both chuckle a little bit.

As it turns out, we are headed to the same floor, so we get off the elevator together. As we walk into an office, there is guy #1 Mr Impatient, standing at the desk tapping his foot as the receptionist is finishing up a phone call. The receptionist asks him “can I help you?” And he says “I’m here to see Mr Smith for an interview at 3:30.” (it’s currently 2:50).

I think to myself “Great, this guy is interviewing for the same position I am and he will act like the sweetest guy during the interview.” I lean over and tell the receptionist “I am Mr Smith’s 3 o’clock interview.” Mr Impatient GLARES at me.

The other guy I walked in with (the one Mr Impatient cut off) then says “Hey gentlemen, I’m Mr Smith.” And turns to Mr Impatient and says “you don’t need to wait around. I’ve already determined you are not a good fit for our company. ”

I got the job.

#5 I once stopped to help a guy change a tire. He had an arm in a sling and two very young kids in his car. He thanked me saying he didn’t want to hurt his arm any more and wanted to get back to work.

Image source: Ryan Fernandez, artursafronovvvv

Fast forward three months and I’m in a very ugly motorcycle wreck. One of the EMTs noticed my back was broken. Had they continued I’d have been paralyzed. His quick thinking prevented that.

After I recovered I got to meet the EMT crew that saved my life.

The guy that noticed my back was broken? The guy whose tire I had changed.

#6 So one day I lost my dog, Marko. He’s the most adorable and adventurous corgi ever and he got out of the house and ran away. However, I wasn’t heartbroken for long because I eventually got a voicemail from a neighbor further down the street, (let’s call her Sarah Hall) saying she found my dog and her kids were bringing him over. Thank God his dog tag had my name, phone number, and address.

Image source: Kevin Favis

Anyway, half a year later I was walking Marko in my neighborhood and he came across a black dog running around the front of the houses, just sniffing around the bushes. The dog sees Marko and they do their dog thing, sniffing each other’s butts and getting along right off the bat. This dog had no collar and seemed lost. As I walked Marko back home, it followed us home since I guess it had nowhere to go. I took him in and called him Kaiba while Marko was just so happy to have a friend spend the night. The next day I set out to post up lost dog posters when I see a family I never met before already posting up posters looking for this dog. It was perfect timing and they were so relieved I had him. It turns out his name was Bruiser and the story goes, they were just friends of the family that owned Bruiser. Apparently the original family moved away to the other side of town, Bruiser escaped, but rather than finding his way back to the new house, he was able to trek all the way back to the neighborhood they used to live, where I found him. I bid Bruiser/Kaiba a fond farewell and kept one of the posters as a memento.

I thought that was a great end to the story, but then later I’m clearing out my voicemail history while waiting in line at Disney when I remember Sarah Hall’s voicemail. Something clicked. After a fun day at the theme park, I went home, grabbed the poster and saw the name at the bottom, “If found, please call Sarah Hall…” The number was the same and I was just in awe. She finds my dog and then half a year later, I find her dog and it all comes full circle.

#7 Back in the 1980’s, a friend of mine was working on a paper about some of the action in WWII. One of the incidents he was working on involved an American unit with a British officer seconded to it.

Image source: Frank Duncan, Francais a Londres

He needed more information about the officer, and had no idea how to do that. Someone suggested contacting the Imperial War Museum in London to see if they could provide a lead or source on how to find him. So, he got on the phone and called the Imperial War Museum. He asked the person who answered the phone how he could locate an officer from WWII, and was asked if he knew the man’s name and unit. He gave them, and the response was: “Speaking.”

In one of the most incredible phone calls in history, he had actually reached the officer who had left the service and gone to work for the Museum, and happened to be walking by a desk when the phone rang. The secretary was away from her desk for a few moments when he happened to walk by and answered the phone.

#8

Strange encounter in Thailand
I was traveling to Thailand alone, for the first time. When I arrived, I stopped by Khao San Road (one of the more popular streets in Bangkok) for a bite. I’m waiting in line for some food, and say hi to a cute girl who was in line behind me.

Image source: Annalise Cameron, cottonbro studio

HER: “Where are you from?”
ME: “New York, you?”
HER: “Israel. Where in New York?”
ME: “A place called Riverdale, in the Bronx.”
HER: “Oh cool… is your mom Daphne?”
ME: “ :: looks of disbelief:: YES… how in the heck…“

Turns out she was my babysitter when I was a baby. Her family left New York when she was young to move back to Israel. 25 years later, we bump into each other in Thailand…

#9 I was awoken from my hazy sleep one morning with a frantic call from a good friend of mine.

Image source: Matt Smith, Tobi

He informed me about how his car was stolen that morning and filled me in on all the details. How they broke in, how he’s called the cops, etc. All the boring stuff. He ends with jokingly “Keep your eye out for it”. Yeah right I thought, it is most likely already trashed. We hang up and I begin my day as usual.

Lunchtime arrived and I decided to go home to eat, about 5 mins drive. On the way home in the car, I received a call from my friend. Just a catch up call, nothing to do with the stolen car.

As we are speaking, I pass a car heading the opposite direction that looked familiar. I asked my friend the licence of his stolen car, did a u-turn and proceeded to catch up to the car I saw, all the while still on the phone with my friend.

I caught up with it and yep, it was definitely his car. Long story short, I chased the car down while my friend was in another car on the phone to me and the cops at the same time, directing the cops to my location. It ended with a heap of police cars converging on the stolen car, pulling the thieving s**m from it and locking them up.

So basically, his car was stolen in the morning and I found it at the same time as talking with him later that day. Not much of an amazing coincidence I suppose, but still a cool one in my opinion.

#10 38 years ago I had to go into London for an interview. The job was for 3 times existing salary and I was nervous so set off early, driving down the M4 and planning to park at Hammersmith and get the tube to their offices near Leicester Square (now a MacDonalds).

Image source: Steve Dadds, Getty Images

I didn’t usually drive into London so stopped my MG Midget at the petrol station at Hammersmith to fill up and ask where there was a car park. As I went to pay a man entered in an obvious hurry so I stepped aside and said “You go first. I’m in no hurry.”. He paid, thanked me and left. I paid, parked and caught the tube to my interview.

Yes, you guessed it. The man in a hurry was my interviewer and he recognized me, hired me and I spent an interesting time in the USA working in Georgia, Ohio and Manhattan, New York.

Sometimes Karma can take a while to arrive, but in this case my politeness to a man in a hurry gave me almost immediate payback.

#11 I was visiting Aberdeen on a business trip from London. Checking out of the hotel I was sitting in the lobby and waiting for the taxi.

Image source: Zeeshan Tayyeb, Fellipe Ditadi

A gentleman next to me asks where I am from. When I reply I am visiting from London but originally from Pakistan, he told me he was originally from India but based in Birmingham for more than 40 years and had a very good friend from Pakistan that he lost touch with 20 years ago when they were together in London.

With our taxis in sight, we get up and I just ask his friend’s name. The lost friend is my parent’s next door neighbour.

Before getting into our taxis, we exchange numbers and 30 mins later these friends were in touch on the phone.

#12 Late one night, George and I sat up playing backgammon and talking. We’d spent many nights like this one—playing past midnight and telling each other stories.

This particular night the topic was, “unbelievably stupid things people we knew had done.” Like backgammon, our storytelling was fiercely competitive. George told such good tales that I was finally forced to pull the ace from my sleeve: the story of Uncle Louie. You see, Uncle Louie did something downright brain-dead. Let me see if I can explain.

It happened at one of those noisy family gatherings—Christmas I think. All the family had gathered together at Mama Tencha’s. Everyone was crowded into her steamy little apartment in the Ukrainian neighborhood.

Uncle Louie, being the youngest unmarried son, still lived at home even though he was a grown man. He participated in questionable activities. Strange smelling smoke leaked out of his room from time to time. He hung out at the margins, coming and going at all hours of the day and night. But because he was family, his rascally ways were entirely overlooked.

During this particular gathering, Uncle Louie got a pain—like a stomach ache. At first Mama Tencha and the rest of the family suggested the usual litany of home remedies— the Pepto, the bi-carb. But Louie wasn’t having any of it. Not him. He was going to be fine.

When Louie began looking a little green around the gills and took to his bed, the family grew more concerned. Maybe a heating pad or some of Mama Tencha’s hot tea?

“No, Ma. I’ll be fine. I’m just gonna sleep it off.”

When Louie began to writhe and moan a bit, the family grew increasingly disconcerted. Several relatives suggested he should visit the doctor or the emergency room.

But Louie said, “no.” He wouldn’t go. They might as well stop bothering him about it. He would be fine in the morning.

In the morning Louie no longer had any problems. Of any kind. The autopsy revealed that he’d died of a massive infection, the result of an untreated ruptured appendix.

It was a family tragedy, Louie dying like that, but nevertheless, George and I cracked up. We couldn’t stop laughing. What a fool Uncle Louie had been! What a dufus! He’d been too macho to get help. You’ve really got to be an idiot to go like that.

Uncle Louie’s story obviously won that night’s contest. George and I were still smirking when he left to go home, defeated, but happy.

The next morning the phone rang and woke me up. It was George who said, “You won’t believe where I am.”

“Where are you?

“I’m in the hospital.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief. “Are you okay?” I was alarmed.

“Yeah, but listen to what happened. When I got home last night I went right to bed, but I was having trouble sleeping because my stomach hurt.”

“I tried to ignore it and just go to sleep—but it got worse. When it got even worse, I was still gonna tough it out because it was so late. That and I absolutely hate going to doctors. I’ll admit it. I’m pretty macho. But then I remembered how stupid Uncle Louie had been and decided maybe I’d better have it checked out.”

“When the doctor in the emergency room told me that I had appendicitis, I called my sister, who’s a medical student and asked her to come. She watched during the surgery. She told me that the doctor said I had the most inflamed appendix they’d ever seen that hadn’t ruptured yet.”

“I guess I was pretty lucky. I might have died. Thanks for telling me about Uncle Louie.”

It’s remarkable how life works. Even doing something terribly stupid can end up serving someone years after you’ve died. Redemption can occur spontaneously. Contribution can happen unexpectedly. Grace arises from absurdity. A story can save your life. Thank you Uncle Louie.

Image source: Monica Rix Paxson

#13 Years ago I was driving down the expressway when there was a loud BANG from under the hood and the car decelerated quickly. I pulled to a stop in the emergence lane and began considering my options. It was raining, so the prospect of even looking under the hood didn’t seem appealing, and I didn’t have any tools with me in any event, and certainly didn’t have the parts to fix whatever had obviously broken. This was before cell phones, so while I knew my father was home and could come to my assistance calling him meant I would have to find my way off the expressway, which had a chain-link fence down both sides. I looked around and noticed that a car had run off the road and knocked down the chain link fence just a few yards away. Better yet, there appeared to be a residential street just beyond the fence, so I got out of the car, hopped the remains of the fence, and found myself in a small cul de sac with a choice of three or four houses nearby. Choosing one at random, I walked up to the door and knocked. “Dave, what are you doing here?” The person who answered was Troy, a co-worker from several years earlier. I explained, and of course he loaned me his phone so that I could call my father. I then went back to the car to wait for my father and the tow truck he said he would call. While I was waiting, an electric utility truck pulled in behind me and the driver turned his emergency lights on. I got out of the car and ran back to the truck to tell the driver someone was already on the way, and it was our next-door neighbor from about 15 years earlier!

Image source: Dave Baldwin

#14 I was in a casino and a mother and son sat down at slot machines on either side of me. They were have a loud conversation and the sons phone kept ringing over and over but he kept declining the calls. Turns out he was leaving his wife that day and he spent 30 minutes talking about how horrible she was and his mom throwing in her 2 cents.

Image source: Maggie Maldonado, Vanessa Valkhof

Finally as a joke I said “let me answer the phone”, so he laughed and gave it to me. When she called back I said who is this, turns out it was my sister and the man was my brother in law. My sister started screaming at me to get away from her husband. I have 7 sisters and this one I had not talked to in 5 years due to some stupid argument we had.

She divorced him and her and I are now best friends, Funny how life works. We laugh about this a lot.

#15 I have always loved history.

When I was 12, I got a brand new social studies book, filled with pictures and charts. I remember pawing through it, fascinated, and I remember a particular photo of a white-haired, old man, sitting in a wheel barrow in front of the first oil derrick ever dug in Pennsylvania.

Fifteen years later, I got married. After the wedding, my father-in-law sent me a clipping in the mail, including that same photograph: the man in the photo was my husband’s great-great-great-uncle.

What are the odds that as a child, I’d see a photo of a relative of the man I would someday marry?

Image source: Lisa Shields

#16 I was on holiday with my husband and three kids in New Zealand (visiting from Australia where we live). We drove into a petrol station to fill up with fuel. Right in front of the bowser we pulled up at was a massive poster advertising Queenstown NZ which featured my husband and I on bikes with our kids (smaller then) being doubled on our bikes. Our third baby just growing in my tummy.

It was an image that was randomly photographed (our consent was given) 4 years prior when we had last visited this place, and was subsequently used in an ad campaign – which we had no idea about! Very spooky and kinda cool.

Image source: Franki Starkey

#17 I’ve been wanting to tell this story on Quora for awhile now!!

Image source: Gabrielle Koetsier, Image-Source

About 5 or 6 years ago, I was in Hawaii with my family. The weather can change quickly there, so although the sun was shining, it soon began to rain.

We got some mixed rain and sunshine.

My dad commented on it: “Wow, sunny rain!”
A nearby lady turned around and said, “What?”
We were all confused and she asked, “Do I know you?”
We were like, “No…” I mean, why would we know this random person in Hawaii? We’re just on vacation.
She said, “You called my name.” What, no, we totally didn’t???

Her name was Sunny Rain.

#18 I was living in Philadelphia, the fourth largest city in the USA if I recall correctly. Millions of people. I’d moved there years before from Ohio. I’d grown up in foster care, some of the time with my father’s side of the family. My bio mother and maternal grandmother (who had adopted me and given me her married last name) had died. I didn’t really have much connection with that side of my family. Foster care at that time didn’t work so hard to maintain familial relationships as they do now. So in Philly, I started to create my own family of friends. I started attending Quaker meeting, and I joined a personal growth support community as part of my healing and to find joy in my life.

One of the gals I met, Jen, and I became good friends. We were in both of these communities and tended to have the same sense of humor. Heck, we even has the same body type and pretty similar hair. We both were artsy types with similar styles and willingness to try any crazy method of arting. One summer, she was visiting her dad in Kentucky, and I was visiting my friend and mother figure in Tennessee and we decided to find a way to hang out. I drove to her parent’s home in Kentucky and realized we weren’t too far from where my bio sister’s daughter lived. I called and invited her down to visit with us. As I started to give her directions, she says… “I know that road. That’s where Aunt so and so lives.” Aunt so and so was Jen’s grandma. It turned out Jen’s grandfather and my grandfather were brothers!

So… I met my bio cousin and became friends with her without even knowing we were related!

For truth,
I’m not 100% sure of the relationships(great grandfather, uncle, etc. of her side, but I know the connection was through my maternal grandfather). Jen’s dad had done a genealogy chart, and I was on it with the last name that I’d been born with!

Image source: Pamila Jo Florea

#19 I was working in an Emergency Room in Atlanta, Georgia. We had a new doctor who had just finished her residency in Boston. She was working her second shift with us when an ambulance came in. She looked at the patient on the stretcher and said, “Hey. I know him.”

Image source: Keith Albert, wavebreakmedia_micro

She followed the stretcher to his room and said, “Randy, why are you in Georgia?” He looked up at her shocked and said, “Ah s**t. I can’t get away from you can I?”

Apparently he had been a “Frequent Flyers” at her previous hospital and she had just taken care of him several days before leaving Boston the previous week.

it must have been shocking for him to take a bus to Atlanta and have the same Doctor take care of him. There are a lot of hospitals in America, the odds of the frequent flyer picking the same hospital in the same state, in the same city, on the same day, on the same shift that the same doctor was working was insane to comprehend.

#20 My mother-in-law, Sara, is a survivor of the N**i h*******t in Europe. A Polish born Jew, she’s the only survivor of her entire nuclear and extended family. She and her husband Wolf, also a survivor, settled in Argentina after the war and lived a life that was anything but easy.

Image source: Eli Bay, Manuel Lardizabal

Twenty years ago, fifty years after the war, fearing that the Nazis were coming to get her, she sunk into a profound depression, a breakdown that transformed a delightful, attractive and very giving person into a helpless, tragic shadow of who she used to be, unable to take care of herself and totally dependant upon the loving care of her husband, Wolf.

When my wife and I in Toronto, Canada got the unexpected call that her father was just days away from dying of lung cancer, a student of mine happened to be in my office to purchase something. She told my wife and me that her husband had recently died of lung cancer and asked if we would like the name of an organization that she found to be an extremely helpful source of information about lung cancer. We of course said yes and she promised to call the next morning with the telephone number.

My wife and I went home, spoke to family in Argentina and that night booked her on the next flight to Buenos Airies in two days.

The next morning I called Immigration Canada to find what we needed to do to bring my mother-in-law into Canada after her husband passes on. I was mortified to speak with a classic bureaucrat who gave me the impression that it was going to be challenging and perhaps impossible to bring Sara into Canada because of her mental condition. This was very disconcerting to say the least.

Since my wife was an only child and had no one who could take care of her mother, the prospect was that my wife might have to stay in Argentina to look after her, perhaps for months or more, until we could sort out this situation.

I was dejected when I hung up the phone and before I could even reflect on the new complication in my life, I received a call from my student, Lois, with the telephone number of the lung cancer organization.

I thanked her and even before I had a chance to tell of my mother-in-law’s plight, she asked me if I needed an immigration lawyer. I said that after my previous conversation minutes earlier with Immigration Canada, an immigration lawyer would probably be most useful.

Lois was an editor at Canada’s most respected newspaper and recommended Arnold, a friend and former journalist at the same paper who went on to become an immigration lawyer. She gave me Arnold’s name and phone number and I told her that I will call him as soon as I return from the Immigration Canada office. I had to go there and pick up an application form to start the immigration process for my mother-in-law.

I hung up the phone, took the elevator down to the street which I crossed and entered the nearby subway entrance. My mind was racing. My heart was aching. I was full of fear. I could feel my body tightening up as I ruminated on what we could do if Sara was unable to get into Canada.

When I got onto the train I immediately started to meditate in order to quiet my emotions and clear my mind. I could feel the anxiety dissipating as I went deeper into meditation. In the distance I heard the transit announcement name the station and heard people coming into the subway car.

Then I heard a voice call my name and say “Stop meditating and say hello to me”. I opened my eyes and saw Mary, an old acquaintance who was on a committee with me a decade earlier, and we started talking.

Needless to say, I started telling her about how distraught I was in learning that I might not be able to bring my mother-in-law into Canada. We talked for a couple of subway stops when a stranger who was standing next to us excused himself and said that he couldn’t help but overhear our conversation. He said that I shouldn’t worry about being able to bring my mother-in-law into Canada because she would definitely be admitted on “compassionate grounds”. I asked him how he knew that and he said that he was an immigration lawyer.

I turned to my acquaintance and said what good fortune that an immigration lawyer should by chance hear our conversation on the subway and give me a free consultation that could instantly lower my anxiety.

The lawyer then said that he was getting off at the next stop and I thanked him for his generous advice and asked him for his business card. As he was getting off the train, he handed me his card through the door and I discovered that it was none other than Arnold, the lawyer whose name was given to me by Lois not more than 20 minutes earlier.

As the subway door was starting to close I said “Arnold! I just got your name from Lois!” He said, “Are you Eli? Call me later this afternoon” and the subway pulled out of the station.

I continued the trip to Immigration Canada without any fear. I now “knew” that things would work out. I had been given the sign that everything would be alright.

I hired Arnold’s legal services and, as he said, I had no trouble bringing Sara into the country on compassionate grounds.

But just consider what the odds might be that just minutes after Lois referred me to Arnold, that he should randomly be standing next to me in a busy subway car in the fifth largest city in North America, overhearing a conversation that would not have happened if an old acquaintance had not come upon me and rather rudely interrupted my meditation.

#21 Once when a class of tenth graders and I were discussing Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven,” an actual raven landed on the tree outside of my classroom and started cawing loudly … no kidding! The students and I lost it!

Image source: George Ramos, Pixabay

I’ve taught in that room for almost twenty years, and I can’t remember another time when a raven has landed in that tree, let alone under such specific circumstances.

#22 This happened to me recently.

Image source: Aashish Arora, Sanket Mishra

Background : My parents created my profile on one of the matrimonial websites to find a suitable match for me. They keep searching over it. They send or receive proposals/requests over there.

Scene 1 : One evening, I came from office and saw my mom going through the profiles of girls who had sent the request to start a conversation further. My mom showed me the picture of a girl. She accepted the request from a girl and hence my phone number became visible to that particular girl as she had a premier membership on that website.

Scene 2 : Same day, at night, I received a call from an unknown number. (My mom had added my number unconsciously while creating the profile) I picked up the phone. The lady on the other side explained that she had sent a request/proposal for her daughter as she liked my profile and the request was accepted from my side in the evening. I told her that my mom had created my profile and it would be better if she talks with my mom directly for this matter. She asked me basic details about my job and told about her daughter. She said, she would talk to my mother and took her phone number.

Scene 3 : Next morning, I boarded the metro train from Kashmere gate metro station (Delhi) on yellow line towards Central Secretariat (My office). The moment I entered the metro, I saw a girl who was standing opposite to me. She started staring at me (I was also doing the same else how would I know that she was staring at me ? :D ).

I thought I have seen the girl somewhere. By her continuous staring, I thought, she must be thinking the same. I started thinking about her with full concentration . After 2 mins, I realized she is the same girl whose profile my mom showed me last evening on the matrimonial website and her mother called me later in the night.

I had doubts about it. Instantly, I messaged my mom to whatsapp me the picture of that particular girl whose proposal she accepted last evening on that matrimonial website. She sent me the screenshots of her profile. I kept staring her and looked at my phone several times to confirm.

By this time, the girl had also realized what I was doing or trying to do. She was also clear about her doubts (I thought so) and recognized me (I thought this too).

Eventually, I took the courage and turned my phone’s screen towards her and asked “ Is this You ?”

She was already smiling like a little kid, her face filled with innocence and shyness.

She nodded her head and said “Yes, I recognized you”.

#23 I still can’t believe it!

Image source: Anish George, drazenphoto

Once I went for an examination. 15 mins were left for the commencement of exams. So, I thought it’s better to interact with the guy seated beside. And it goes this way…

Me: Hey, I’m Anish.
He: Wait, What? Even my name is Anish.
Me: Surname?
He: George! (Anish George)
Me: Even my full name is Anish George! Wow!
He: Woho, what a coincidence? Suddenly he gazed at my screen and said, “No way, it can’t happen!”
Me: Hey, what happened?
He: We share our birthday on the same date and year.

I was insanely surprised!!

Later, many similarities were revealed except he wasn’t my doppelganger. Sigh..

Cheers!

#24 This is mother of all coincidences. Or that is how I wish to define it.

Image source: Sathyamurthy Ramanujam

It was year 1982. I was working as a trainee in a Chartered Accountant’s (CPA equivalent in India) office.

My boss had called me for a meeting to his office.

When I reached there at the appointed time, he was held up in another meeting with a client. As I waited for him to call me, I looked around his office.

My eyes fixated on a bookshelf. “Wow!” I thought, “this man really reads a lot”. Usually in a Chartered Accountant’s office you see lots of books related to Company Law and Income Tax. In his book shelf there were several other books – fiction and non-fiction.

Even as I was looking at the bookshelf, one book that was kept on a table near the bookshelf caught my attention.

The title of that book? “Incredible Coincidence” – The Baffling World of Synchronicity by Alan Vaughan – Author of Patterns of Prophecy.

The book cover highlighted (I am now typing this seeing the book cover, so don’t appreciate me for my vivid memory) “The man who found King Tut’s Tomb dies and the lights go out in Cairo”, “A housewife finds a ring she lost forty years before – Inside a Potato”, “A Bullet finds its mark twenty years after it was fired – by accident”.

Now, tell me, if you were there in that place, will you not pick that book to read?

I did exactly that.

I can tell you it was a page turner for I read about 25 pages quickly. It was engrossing and the coincidences mentioned were nothing short of incredible.

But as luck would have it, my boss called me in. I went for the discussion, came out and left his office not having the courage to ask him lend that book to me. Incredibly, the book was also not there on the table. His assistants must have kept it back in the shelf.

The above narrated incident happened in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.

The memory of this book stayed with me for very long. Fast forward seven years to 1989. I became a Chartered Accountant and had moved to New Delhi, India. Whenever I visited a bookshop I used to search for this book. I never found that book. One day, I had to visit a bank for a meeting. After the meeting I left for my house. As I was engrossed in some thoughts I missed my regular route.

I realized I had taken the wrong route only when I saw the unfamiliar shop sign boards on either side of the road. I immediately stopped and took the next turn to get back to my regular route. Even as I was turning my vehicle, I saw a bookshop. I thought, I will get there to browse and see if there were any new books from my favorite author Jeffrey Archer.

I went into the bookshop to look. Strangely I didn’t find any Jeffrey Archer books there. I was surprised how a popular writer’s books were not there in that shop. I inquired the counter clerk. He said “Sir! books are arranged in alphabetical order of author names. “J” is upstairs”. He pointed to a small spiral staircase in the corner.

I walked to the spiral stair case to get upstairs. Even as I walked my shoulder rubbed a rotating bookshelf kept near the staircase. And the bookshelf rotated by the impact.

I was two steps into the stair case and right at my eye level the bookshelf showed the book “Incredible Coincidence” – The Baffling World of Synchronicity by Alan Vaughan”

Isn’t it a strange coincidence? What else took me to that bookshop on that day when the book was available?

Wayne Dyer says “If you really really really want something, you will get it”

I did get…

Didn’t I?

#25 I was travelling to Bangalore from London to attend my sister’s wedding. I had booked a ticket for 19th October and her wedding was scheduled to be on 25th October.

Image source: Annalise Cameron, Getty Images

When I went to the airport, I found out that the flight was overbooked and they had offloaded me. The staff was very rude and would not hear anything. They were literally pushing people away. That being the holiday season, there were many people like me(atleast 50).

So I went back and emailed my travel desk to sort this out for me. I decided not to inform my family immediately as it would be night time and my family will be sleeping in India. I went to sleep around 11PM. After half an hour my phone started ringing. When I checked it was my sister. I was worried why is she calling me at that time (around 5AM in India).

So I picked up the call and this was our conversation.
Sis: Where are you? How are you able to pick my call? Are you not travelling now?
Me:(Trying to sound calm) I am in London. I could not fly. There was some problem in the passenger list. I will fly tomorrow.
Sis: (Sobbing now).. I knew it.
Me: Know what??
Sis: I just got a dream, you were not let to fly by the airlines staff. They said you can fly a week later I.e. 26th October. You will not be able to attend my wedding.

I was shocked to hear that, because that was the exact thing the airline staff had told me that I should take the flight on 26th October.
I assured her I will be flying the next day as my travel desk is sorting it out.
Luckily, my travel desk could get me on the flight next day and I attended the wedding.
This incident happened almost a decade ago. We were not aware that the passengers can be offloaded for no fault of theirs till that day.
Edit1: Thank you for your upvotes. I never thought it would be read by so many people.
Answering few of the questions :
Why did I go anonymous?
This was the first answer I wrote I was not sure how does this work and how judgemental people will or will not be. I have no experience in writing. I had lots of self doubts. But when I saw this question I wanted to share this experience of mine so I chose to be anonymous.

I had a link for editing this answer but, I did not know how to view the answer or comments. I had tried searching it few times earlier. As there are many answers to this question, I got lost. Today searched based on the content in my answer and I got lucky. Still can’t believe the number of people who viewed this. I am not sure if I can reply to the comments here. Please let me know if I can do that and I am more than happy to answer.
Airlines name: It was Srilankan Airlines

For all the comments who think it is a made up story:
I used to work for an IT company in Bangalore and the client office was in London. I was on deputation. When the travel agent books the ticket, they book an open ticket for 6 months. According to that my return date in the onward ticket issued was 26th October. My sister’s wedding was initially planned for July which later got moved to October 25th. So I requested the travel desk to issue me the ticket for 19th. They did the same and the old ticket was also attached to it.

My co worker was travelling with me. She had the exact scenario in terms of the dates and ticket issuing.

We reached earlier than expected and there was a huge rush near the counter. There were many people travelling to Sri Lanka for the vacations. People were shouting, screaming, crying but the staff at the counter were very rude and literally pushing people away. We somehow reached the front of the desk and showed our tickets and they said come back after a week. When I showed the rescheduled ticket they relooked at it and showed the 26th from the previous ticket and started shouting at me whereas my coworker was allowed to go inside and travel. I was gullible, worried and started crying and asked them to verify the date again. They just pushed me away.

When I got in touch with my managers, they took this up with the travel desk and the travel agent agreed Sri Lankans airlines does this often. I was told it became a highest level of escalation to the travel company and they tried very hard to get me a seat the next day.