Toto: Hi Sid, it's great to have you back for our alien podcast after two years in hiatus. It's a packed house, and my friends are waiting to welcome you back. Thank you for joining us again. Before I go further, let me turn the microphone over to you so you can tell my friends around the alien world why you have been out for so long. Over to you, Sid.
Me: On December 27, 2020, I encountered a family trauma that threw my life upside down, destroying my energy level so I couldn't function anymore. I had to shut down my life, literally.
Toto: So what happened that led you to shut down your life?
Me: I lost my eldest son.
Toto: What happened? Was he suffering from a terminal illness for a while?
Me: From the medical report, I learned he died of enlarged heart syndrome, which I was unaware of. When on Christmas Day we wished each other, he sounded perfectly normal.
Toto: Were you very close to each other? Tell my world more about your son.
Me: Yes, we were very close. We used to communicate at least twice a week. My son was only 32 and was my brainchild. He graduated from Harvard in 2010 with a degree in Physics, achieving cum laude with a GPA of 3.851. He was the most intelligent student and problem-solver I have ever known. Whenever I worked on something new, I used to keep him in the loop, taking his suggestions and advice. I never disagreed with him on anything. We had an amazingly similar thought process.
Toto: Was he a good student from elementary school to college?
Me: Yes, from elementary to junior high to high school, he was brilliant and consistently won the "Student of the Year" awards. I remember he was upset that he missed a perfect SAT score by a mere ten points, but he did score all 5's in all APs.
Toto: Was he good at both math and humanities?
Me: He was an all-rounder. After living in different sun states, we moved back to NYC so he could attend the most competitive public high school. After acing the entrance exam, he became the captain of the math team and editor of the school journal. That tells you how good of an all-rounder he was.
Toto: Did he apply to Ivy's only or to top tech schools too?
Me: He wasn't a tech kind, so he applied to Ivy's only, with Harvard being his top choice. I asked him not to consider the other Ivy acceptances.
Toto: Isn't it expensive to go to an Ivy?
Me: Yes, it was, as both my wife and I worked, so there was no financial aid for us. Then again, we were so excited about him going to Harvard that we didn't care about the financial hardship part.
Toto: My friends want to hear a few funny things from his young age.
Me: Back then, he was in elementary school. We were attending his graduation ceremony. His classmates were winning all sorts of prizes in sub-areas. My wife was getting annoyed as his name was nowhere to be heard. I repeatedly calmed her down, anticipating what was in store for him. As I expected, he did win the "Student of the Year" award, followed by a glowing five-minute speech about his triumph and achievement from his teacher.
Toto: Some of my friends want to hear a story of his brilliance from his very young life, but outside of school, preferably at home.
Me: From a very young age, he had an outstanding knack for math, and he could solve quantitative problems quite effortlessly. He was probably in first grade, and my wife was trying to teach him how to read the multiplication tables. I was sitting in the back doing some office work. I noticed he was trying to show her an alternative way to do it without memorizing the tables. Unable to convince his mother of the alternative solution, he brought it to me and explained his way. As his alternative solution stunned me, I told my wife he would never need our help with homework. Since then, we didn't spend any time trying to help him with homework. On the other hand, he always helped his siblings with their homework, making our lives easy.
Toto: What about his writing ability?
Me: Over the years, I worked with many mathematically talented folks, but somehow, they never impressed me with their math skills. On the contrary, I always appreciated people with high-end creative writing skills. He had an exceptional talent in that area, and honestly, I enjoyed that end of his talent more than his numerical and quantitative skills. He was a marvelous poet, winning many awards from a young age, often competing way above his age group. He even became the junior poet laureate of a city we once resided in. Atop, his general writing ability was remarkable too. When he was in high school, he would discard his completed papers in the recycling bin, and at times my wife would secretly read them. She showed me several such where his teachers made some awe-inspiring remarks like "a great budding writer," "superb writing ability," "math in the art form," etc.
Toto: How did he do financially after Harvard?
Me: He did incredibly well. But he was also extremely generous, so he used to donate a big chunk of his monthly income. He lived in Manhattan's upper east side, paying a hefty rent. Because of his generosity, the workers in the building loved him. My daughter later told me he even presented some of their school-going children iPads for homework.
Toto: How come he didn't go to graduate school?
Me: He was too much into studies from a young age, so he felt burnt out. He wanted to wait a few years before going back there. He was an avid reader, spending a lot of money to buy books to build his home library. We received 40 boxes of books from his apartment, most of which we donated to the library. Of course, he had promised to return to Harvard for a master's in the fall of 2021. God dis-proposed.
Toto: How do you remember him on a day-to-day basis?
Me: We have a memorial inside our house. I also wear his used shirts, which gives me the feeling of hugging my baby. It's a shame I am still alive, but he isn't.
Toto: You used to own and operate so many valuation sites. What happened to them?
Me: I took all of them down. I was working on several AI interfaces, but I never got to finalize any of them.
Toto: What about your books?
Me: They are still there, but I don't have the mental capacity to update them. When we got the call from our daughter that night about our son's exit, I was in the middle of the final chapter of my second book on the pandemic. I never completed it, sitting there unfinished.
Toto: Since you are ready to leave the podcast, my friends are sending their deepest condolences for your unthinkable loss. But they want you back now and then to hear your take on many burning questions of the day. Would you make yourself available for our podcasts?
Me: Perhaps. Wake me up, and we'll go from there.
