The last time I met Kwok, we had remembered the times we had worked together back in the days. You might remember from the post then how I was absolutely taken in by this youngster’s willingness to learn new things and put in the hard work to do so.

That meeting was in 2017. I was visiting his town. Four years later, he was visiting mine. And we arranged to make sure we get some time for a drink and dinner.

This time our discussions were a little more esoteric than Unix scripts – Talent and Time. We had some good exchanges of experiences on the difficulties of nurturing and managing Talent. And also an in-depth discussion around whether Time is real or something we have made up to make sense of this universe.

Great time spent with this youngster.

As I lifted my eyes from the Zoom screen, I saw the young gentleman entering the shared office place I work from when in Atlanta. I recognized him immediately – but was on a call.

Once the call got over, I walked up to him and asked “Ben?”
“Yes, sir! I recognized you but was not sure what you were doing here”.

And that is how I ran into Ben Austin after a few years. Ben was part of Natasha’s close friends circle from middle school and they are still great friends. I remember him as the most level headed and responsible person in that group. Never shied from helping out his friends.

And he always called me “Papa Roy” !!

Ben also had great curiosity towards mixology. In fact, we reminisced about how, once he crossed 21, we had made an Old Fashioned together – with the cocktail smoker I had. He even remembered the wood chips we used that day!

Next time, I have an Old Fashioned – I will raise it to this young, aspiring medical professional!!