Right Next To Each Other

As I walked along the dimly lit covered parking lot at a mall, headed to the shops, my eyes swept along the vehicles parked on either side to make sure they were not pulling out into my way without being aware of me. Somehow two vehicles parked next to each other came to my attention, not the vehicles themselves initially, but their license plates. They were not vanity plates that stood out from the mostly 'random' numbers and letters on most vehicles. Take a close look at the picture I took of them when I realized something very interesting about these two. The registration sequence of these two vehicles were consecutive, one right after the other.  These obviously belonged to the series of new vehicle registration pattern in my state after the old pattern was exceeded and insufficient for the number of vehicles now in the state. Something struck me about the odds of coming across such in a random situation are astronomical. I looked up and noticed that they were almost identical vehicles of the same brand and model. I shook my head as the numerous interesting possibilities about this started to sink in. 

I had walked ahead a few steps when I decided to go back for a quick look at those vehicles from the driving lane in front of them to double-check what I thought I had seen. I decided to snap a picture to keep a record of having witnessed such and move on. I did not want to pry more or look at the vehicles closer or inside them, just wanted to take away the image which somehow seems to tell a 'story'. That was enough. All the exact details of the story need were not needed. There were many unknowns, uncertainties and 'possibilities' that were perfect - they retained the privacy of the people that owned these cars. I did not want to intrude into their lives. Just the facts obvious and visible to anyone walking by, was enough to tell a powerful and a seemingly good story of happy lives. So, what could one tell or conclude reasonably, rationally, about the owners of these two cars? 

I want to list somethings that came to my mind. Please feel free to add more of your own.

1) The owners of these two vehicles know each other, know each other well. They are likely close to each other, like each other, get along very well. I would speculate they are possibly related to each other. It would not be beyond the possibility and would be absolutely hilarious if they belonged to identical twins or siblings!!

2) They likely bought the vehicles together brand new and paid for it together from the same car dealer in the same deal. Likely well-to-do enough to buy two such personal vehicles together at the same time.  

3) The owners of these two cars are not attention seeking - they chose not to go for matching vanity plates as some do.

4) These two vehicles were of the types that usually suited small families with kids.

5) The two vehicles were driven together to arrive together at the parking, one behind the other and having found parking side-by-side parking spots decided to take  them.

6) The families of these cars likely even live very close to each other. 

7) It was a weekday in the afternoon, during school holidays in my state that I saw this.  The malls are usually crowded during this time and full of families with kids. It is difficult to find side-by-side free parking spots unless they arrive relatively early in the day. So, they must have planned and arrived early together. They must be families that do things together and are happy together. It is possible some of the working parents in these families are away at work during the week so the rest of the family at home must be getting along well enough.

I may be mistaken in some of my speculations about the details of this situation - there are other possibilities that may fit, but they all point to other possible happy real life stories. It seems like "Right Next To Each Other" is a great way to live- looking out for each other and being there for each other.

To me, it is definitely a beautiful happy story of people and families having a great bond in life. The odds of these consecutive numbers also tells me  there are millions of such people, living such lives all around us, all the time. Its just these two were revealed and 'given away' to me by the sequence of their license plates. I wish them the happiest of lives in the future, right next to each other.

Photo Courtesy and Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2019
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