After leaving school in 1983, I had not seen Venkatesh for 33 years! And then managed to meet him in Atlanta when he was visiting his relatives in 2016. And now he has moved to Atlanta himself!!
Most countries I go to, I tend to make at least one everlasting relationship. It is usually the person who takes me around – unless I choose to drive or rely entirely on public transport. I have about 30 such life long friends from all over the world.
Please meet my new friend – William Lopez from Guatemala. He was my friend, philosopher and guide during my entire stay here. A person with an amazing personal journey.
He lived in Italy and married this most beautiful woman he met there. Except, she died at childbirth. To let him put it … “It was difficult to raise my child by myself at first”. But he did. His son is growing up in Italy as an aerospace engineer.
Life dealt the next unkind deal with his mom contracting cancer. He left his son to his in-laws and better education there to take care of his mom (and dad) in Antigua. His two brothers also leave abroad. Thankfully, his mom is a survivor today!!
He said he had never worked this hard before to get out of debt. And then Covid came!! Had to sell all his cars that he used for touring business. But he is building it up again. His parents and he support an orphanage and run a Spanish-learning school. They are finishing up his house to be a four room bed-and-breakfast for foreign students to come and learn Spanish and stay at their place and eat meals cooked by his mom. The current students have to live by strict rules – no smoking inside the property and you cannot bring your boyfriend or girlfriend in unless they are students too.
For all that hard work, I never saw him not smiling. In fact, the remotest of the villages we went to – everybody seemed to know him. The parking lot guy in Panajachel came running to him, every shopkeeper in San Juan gave them updates on their family (from the barebones Spanish I could understand).
It is like he has touched so many lives!!
The kind of guy I want to be some day when I grow up!
In the meanwhile, if you or your friends every want to visit Guatemala – and I can vouch for you that all you hear about insecurity in this country in Western media is just a minuscule representation of this country – I personally felt safer in all places in Cd. Guatemala than I feel even around my office in Atlanta. No homeless person screamed at me here – and I really encourage you to do so, please feel free to reach out to this young gentleman. He really knows a thing or two about how to deal with people.
is mostly comprised of long naps interrupted only by short naps.
Except when I yell “Go for a walk?” He immediately will jump from his bed, shake is body off and head out of the door without any fear or favor. Once in a while, he will look back to see if I am still there. What I find amusing is that he will ignore every other dog and person that we encounter. Like they pose a threat to his mission of putting his marker down on every square inch of Alpharetta!
I have a niece in India – Shreya – who has some unparalleled God gifted talent in art. She had seen a picture I had posted of me playing the tabla and Jay Jay listening to me. Then she drew this for me and handed it over to Sharmila and Natasha (who are in India) as a gift for me.
I am blown away by how life like it is and the clever use of agitrons in a painting!
Best gift. Ever.
Made a lot of friends in Chiringa today. First, played some of the Nytimes games with McKenzie and Michael. Interestingly, McKenzie used to work in Pig Tales. Her sister still works there. I am sure I will see her one of these boatride days.
Then had a great time with Preet and his family. Exceedingly nice folks!
So, here I am in Puerto Rico. The main reason is to attend the wedding of somebody I know. Much younger to me, of course. I am on the board of the company that he is the CEO of. Turns out I was his mentor for a couple of years before that too. So, I show up with Sharmila at the Bacardi Distillery. It was a small and fairly intimate wedding.
Other than the bride and the groom I did not know anybody. Sharmila and I were intently watching the proceedings of the Indian wedding. All of ten minutes must have passed.
That “I did not know anybody”, bit? Completely unfounded.
Suddenly a gentleman in chic, traditional Malayali dress walks up to me and Sharmila.
“Rajib?”
“Guilty!”
“Hari. Hari Menon!”
“Wow! I would not have recognized you!!”
I knew Hari very well from the 90s. We had worked together. But I could not have picked him up from a crowd. He had however, recognized me in the gathering.
“Hari. Wait. What is your connection?”
“I am Vivek’s cousin”
“No way!”
The groom and I know each other for a few years now. In fact, he and his bride-to-be had gone out for dinner with Sharmila and me too. But we never figured out that we had such a common connection!!
Go figure!!
