So, there we were – Jay Jay and I, having a philosophical debate over a glass of wine and a plate of Kibbles (to avoid doubt, I had the wine). The topic de jure was “Who is really whose best friend?” We were at the peak of the debate – what triumphs what – keeping the family safe or cleaning his poop – when I thought I saw a nattily dressed couple walking by. They had not noticed me. But I recognized them from my past.

So, I simply got up, walked up to them and asked “Who let you in here?”

A couple of seconds later, there were yells of “RAJIB???”

And that is how I ran into my two old colleagues from 15 years back – Patricia Rosenfeld and her husband Claudio Brenna.

I had not seen them for over 10 years. Other than the birthday calls, I do not think I have had any other contact with them. They are still working in the same company. It was so great to hear about their progression in life and how the old company has continued in its winning ways.

I did not realize that their son and Natasha actually live very close to each other in Brooklyn. I also did not realize that Patricia and Claudio had moved to Key Biscayne. We agreed to try out some boating when we visit them there.

That was a very nice evening… (and not just because I beat Jay Jay in the debate)

Amit was in town for a family wedding. Thanks to Anand’s efforts, we were able to get together for a couple of hours. Madhav made it too but we missed Karthik.

Back in the mid 2000s, both Amit and I had left Dallas around the same time – he headed to India and I, to Atlanta. His interests in life is more varied than I have seen in anybody. I am fairly sure he is the friend I have that gets the title of “somebody I know with the highest number of followers in Twitter”.

We went over some awesome memories from the past. He and I were next door to each other in office and many a random lunches were spent together talking about stuff. (a safe guess would be complaining about things at work 🙂 ).

Today, there were couple of great debates in geopolitics. Really enjoyed the depths in the arguments from Madhav, Anand and of course, Amit!

So, there I was. Sitting in a corner of the coffee shop with my cappuccino and getting a few weekly chores cleared out from my laptop when I thought I heard a lady call out my name. It was an unlikely place to meet somebody I knew. I have been going there for three years and it has never happened to me.

I took my eyes off the screen and looked up. And sure enough – it was my old friend Marianne Petty standing there. She was there with her family picking up some coffee. I did not realize that she lived very close to that place.

I got to know her back in 2007 or so when I started a new job. She was in HR and had started a couple of years earlier than me. What is funny is that while talking to Ben (her husband), I found out that he had a long career in the same company too. Not only did I not know that, he actually remembers being in the same room as I during a meeting!! I really need to pay more attention to people around me.

I got help from her daughters for the selfie. (I just can’t do that thing well)

It was such a great chance to meet this wonderful family. I saw Marianne herself after a decade!

It was six years back that I had visited my MBA class mate from Ahmedabad and my colleague from my first job – as well as my apartment mate from Bombay at his house in Bangalore. The chief goal was meet his dad. Which I did 21 years after I had met him for the first time. But that time, I also met Kavita, Aditya and Saumya for the first time.

Subsequently, Aditya and Saumya moved to the USA for studies. Today, took advantage of Raj and Kavita visiting them and showed up for the evening at the Airbnb they were staying in!!

Unfortunately, missed Saumya who was a good 400 miles away near Philly. Had a good call with her though!!

As I prepare to bow out of my role, there are a lot of goodbyes to be told. Here is an evening with two of my ex-colleagues – Ken and Alexa. We had a great time reminiscing the formative days of our company. Got to know the personal stories of each one of their lives and once again, made me realize how much personal adversities people often go thru before succeeding in life. While it was hard losing them when they left, it was unequivocally heartening to hear about the professional successes they have had recently!!

In fact, Andrea was one of the people who originally convinced me to move from Dallas to Atlanta (for job). After she left Atlanta, I had not seen her for nearly 15 years. We fixed that problem today!

It was great to see her today, learn about her life journeys and the lessons from life she has drawn so far!

It was early 2019, I think. I had walked into the bar at the hotel I was staying in after a long day of work. The idea was to clear out some emails over drinks and then grab dinner at the bar. Except that it was very noisy at the bar that evening.

I packed up my stuff and went to the formal dining restaurant next door – called Seared. The restaurant was empty. As was the bar inside. Except Tom – the bartender.

I sat there and started chatting with Tom. I remember never opening up my laptop to do emails. I spent the whole evening chatting with Tom.

Even today, if I stay in that hotel, every evening, I make a beeline to him and ask him for his special Old Fashioned!!

Janice and I go back to virtually the first time I started staying in the Itasca Westin. I remember the years when she was taking care of her mother and we used to exchange stories of what both our parents were going thru in old age. You might remember the incident where she was instrumental in retrieving my sun glasses that I had left in the JW Marriott in Marco island!

I am going to miss her a lot!