2 — Down for Lunch!
It was the summer of 2013; I was on a flight headed towards India to meet the Dalai Lama. After having a successful IPO, the quest for my next big mission brought me to the foothills of the Himalayas where the Dalai Lama takes refuge.
Once we landed in India we had to further trek for seven long hours before finally reaching the monastery. I decided to take a shower before heading to meet His Holiness. I couldn’t decided what colour to wear, after trying out all the t-shirts I had packed, I decided to go with the green one as it would compliment the red and saffron colours of the Lama’s robe.
As I was approaching the monastery I saw the Dalai Lama getting into a car with his fellow monks. I waved at him from far; he looked towards me, smiled and said, “Elon Musk! Is that you?”. I went closer to him and introduced myself but he didn’t know who I was. He said he was headed out of town and would not be available to meet for the rest of the year. I explained that I have come to meet him from far off and I too am as prominent as Elon Musk. He took his cellphone out to Google my name. He tapped a few times on his device, raised his head towards me and said, “Sorry no internet”, and with that he turned away, got into his car and left.
It pisses me off how outside the valley hardly anyone recognises me. In fact, people have only started knowing my name after watching the hideous movie, ‘The Social Network’. I was suddenly able to see five…ten years into the future. I finally realised what I needed to do next; to bring internet to every corner of the planet. At last people would be able to Google my name and know exactly who I am no matter what part of the world I am in.
As he gazed outside the window reminiscing about the past his phone rang. With each ringing sound his mind filled more and more with the problems of current times. In 2002, Yahoo made a $3 billion offer to acquire Google but the deal did not go through. In 2013, Facebook made a $3 billion offer to acquire Snapchat but this deal did not go through either. The similarities in these two instances freaked him out, he wondered weather they were like The Yahoo.
His phone beeped again. It was a text, ‘Jason would like to to know if you’re down for lunch?’. He called Jason up asking him what the matter was and if it could be discussed over phone but Jason insisted he get down.
As I entered the restaurant, the floor manager made a f-shaped gesture with his hand and with that everybody eating instantly got up and left the place. I took a moment for everyone to leave, then I walked towards Jason’s table. Something about him seemed off, I’ve never seen his this serious. The closer I got to him, the more nervous I felt. I pulled up the chair opposite to him and went on a rant.
“So what is it? Is it something about the diversity report? How come none of the news organisations release a diversity report as frequently as us? Why do they keep picking on the tech companies? Why don’t other industries face the same scrutiny? I bet if…”
“No its not about that”, Jason interrupted.
“Is it Thiel? Did say something at his RNC speech? I’ve already apologised once for Marc, I cannot keep doing this again and again!”
“No! It’s not that either”, said Jason. He reached down to grab something and he put it on the table. It was a black briefcase, with a 3-digit combination lock. As I waited for him to enter the combination I couldn’t help but wonder what was in the briefcase that was so important that it could only be discussed in-person. Fifteen minutes passed by, Jason was still trying to enter the correct combination. Apparently he forgot what it was. “Try 0–0–0”, he did and the briefcase locks popped open.
