27 April 2022

A stranger no more!!

For a person who suffers from acute acrophobia AND claustrophobia (to the point of having to be medicated at times), I find myself in an aluminum tube way up some thirty five thousand feet in the air with disturbing frequency.

And yet those eight million frequent flyer miles got me to meet so many human beings from every walk of life. Interactions that have enriched me and often humbled me as a human being.

Nikita, Sharmila and I had just finished our TSA stuff at Washington National airport after a college visit for Nikita. We strolled thru the airport leisurely dodging all the passengers running in and out of the planes and then took the elevator to the Delta Skyclub.

After we were checked in, I told the girls – “You folks go ahead. I am going to talk to that lady”. And I pointed out to the second lady who was checking in another passenger.

I waited patiently as she helped the passenger. And then when he was done, he walked up to her. And she welcomed me to the Club.

“Welcome to the Club. Can I check you in?”
“Well, I am already checked in. I am here to talk to you.”
“About what?”, she asked, justifiably confused.
“Well, I used to fly into this airport every week for two years spanning 2010-2012. You used to usher me in then. In spite of the mask you are wearing, I am very sure you are the same person.”
“Well, of course! I used to be here then too! You remember me?”
“I do indeed”
“What is your last name?”
“Roy”
“I see you have two young ladies with you today”, she said as she quickly located me in the system.
“Yes, my wife and daughter. They are sitting inside.”
“Roy? Bengali?”
“Yes!”
“Bangla boltey paren?” (Can you speak in Bengali?)
“Oboshhoi” (But, of course)
“Kemon Aachen?” (How are you?)
“How do you know Bengali?”

Well, Jatindar (her name) came into the lounge and spent some time with Sharmila and Nikita. And that is when I got my answer. While she is from Delhi, she used to live in Kolkata when she was in school. In fact, she went to Brabourne College! Like Sharmila, she moved to the US after getting married.

We went around the Club and I told her all the details from a decade back that have changed now (for the better).

Before she took leave, we let her know that DC is the city Nikita is headed for college this year. She is going to see more of Sharmila and me the next few years.

“I can’t wait”… she said as she waved walking away.

My thoughts kept floating in and out… Neither can I !! It is people like you that make life in an aluminum tube – nay, life in general – so much more exciting and interesting!!!

If any of you happen to be in the Delta Skyclub in Washington National airport, do stop by to say Hi to this fine young lady!!

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Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT
27 April 2018

An interesting problem to solve…

Imagine this… I am on a 15 hour flight from Doha to Atlanta. There is a TV screen with a lot of movies but I do not watch movies. There are my favorite shows like Big Bang Theory, Friends etc but how many times can you see the same 10 episodes? Remember, I had to take a 15 hour flight going to Doha too. And I do this multiple times a year.

So, I was lazily looking into the progress of the plane on the map of the globe. It was showing on the globe where we were and our trajectory. Notice the picture on the top half. As you can see, we were somewhere around the New Foundland area in Canada.

Here is the problem:
I was trying to ascertain roughly where the north pole was in that map. Just to see how close did we go to the north pole. The problem is in this map, all of Greenland and the Arctic area is shown as one white blob.

I also want to let you know that the screen is a smart one like you have in iPad. You can use one finger to go left and right and using two fingers, you can make the globe rotate (on any axis – depending on how you swipe both fingers). As an example, I used my two fingers and slid them up and a little to the left. As you can see in the picture in the lower half, the world rotated on a horizontal axis and rotated to the left. You can notice how North America moved up and then the North pointer in the compass turned by 90 degrees.

The point is, using the two fingers, you can turn the globe on any axis as you want (going thru the center of the earth).

Using this, can you pinpoint where the North Pole is?

Category: Puzzles | 17 Comments on An interesting problem to solve…
27 April 2017

Hickey-gem … again…

In the past, you probably have read about my team mate Bob Hickey and his really, really funny comebacks. He is a guy with an incredible sense of humor and presence of mind.

Early this morning, I called him up from the West Coast and went..
Me: “Was it your anniversary yesterday?”
He: “Yes”.
Me: “How many years?”
He: “32 long years”.
Me: “I did not realize that our anniveraries are so close. Mine is tomorrow”.
He: “Oh! How many years for you?”
Me: “Not as long as you. 24.”
Perhaps touched to the quick on that “not as long as you”, in about half a jiffy, he came back with…
“Hey! Rajib, only if my wife agreed, I would be more than happy to step aside and let you catch up to me”.

Again, all you could hear is both of us guffawing on either side of the phone!!!

Category: Humor | LEAVE A COMMENT
27 April 2017

See… this is why I foxtrot to office everyday…

After three days of coast to coast meetings, finally dragged myself to the Portland airport (with no help from United Airlines, if you needed to know 🙂 ). After checking in, went thru security and dropped down in a chair at the Delta Skyclub. There was one more hour long video meeting to be done before I could walk into my flight.

Somewhere during the meeting, as my team mate Anand Iyer explained something that has been a practice for quite some time in our company, I asked, rather impatiently – “But that makes no logical sense, right? Why would anybody do it?”.

Anand, much smarter than I – and who obviously agreed with my premise, instead decided to answer the core thesis behind my question. “There have been four Nobel prizes given in recent times to people who have proven that we all behave irrationally”.

I had to take a time out for a few seconds to laugh my heart out.

“Well played, Sir, well played!!”

Sometimes I wonder why do I foxtrot to office every morning – is it because I am surrounded by very smart people or is it because I am surrounded by very funny people…

Category: Humor | 1 Comment on See… this is why I foxtrot to office everyday…