My good old friend from eleventh and twelfth grade – Navin Saxena – was in town to drop his son Varun at Emory. I remember seeing Varun in April of 2014 when I was visiting Portland for work. We had all gone out for dinner. Navin let me know today that Varun distinctly remembers me. For a rather unique reason. Apparently, Navin and I had a minor public fracas trying to prevent each other from picking up the dinner tab.

Before that evening, I had seen Navin in April, 1994 when he had come for an interview in Dallas. And before that it was in May, 1986 in his hostel in his Engineering College.

Last time, we had reflected a lot on the past, our school days, our trips together to Dip Sengupta’s house, my house, his house and many of our old friends. Today, we talked about what the future holds for us. He, especially, has been going thru some soul searching given he is a freshly minted empty nester.

It was great to talk about the important things in life over what he called a “chai toast” (We were drinking tea).

“Wait, how did you get so much mental strength to withstand all this?”
“I do not know. I was determined not to follow in my parents’ path.”
“That takes some real determination.”

I was so engrossed in the conversation that I had completely forgotten to make up my mind what to have for lunch when Brelyn (Howard) came to check on us.

Let’s back up a little.

John and I was up to our usual Sunday thing – ride our motorbikes to some small town in Georgia, have lunch there, meet some local people and come back home. The town of choice this Sunday was Ellijay which is fairly popular with tourists nestled in the mountains of North Georgia.

We parked our cars and spotted a restaurant – “Emily’s Bar and Restaurant” on the other side of the road. There was a table open in the front patio. We agreed to settle down there. (BTW, if any of you go there – they have a lot of outside patio tables in the back – which I found out later).

That is when Brelyn came to help us out. John and I chatted her up asking her a few questions about the local area.

“Are you from this area?”, I asked
“Yes”
“Do your parents live here?”
“Well, my parents are not your run of the mill parents. They are drug addicts. My mom is in jail and my dad is on the run.”

Well, I was not sure what to say next. Brelyn, as I found out later, had just finished high school and apparently that was her parental background.

“Wait, so who is taking care of you? Meaning…” (I suddenly realized that as a 18/19-year old, she is an adult)
“Well, I stay with my grandparents.”
“So, they have taken care of you?”
“Yes. They are the loveliest people. Specially my grandma.”

“Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“Five sisters. Actually three step sisters. My grandparents are raising my younger sister too.”
“They sound like amazing human beings. Are they from your father’s side or mother’s side?”
“Mom’s side.”

“I have to ask you a question. With that background, you do realize that your life could have turned out very different, right?”
“Yes, sir. I am aware.”
“The peer pressure… the temptations at high school… those are difficult things for a young adult like you.”
“Yes”
“So, then how did you get keep yourself on the straight and the narrow?”
“I have seen my parents. I was determined what not to be.”

For a moment, as John asked her something, my mind floated back to my own daughters. I hope some day all kids like them will grow up to realize how lucky and blessed they have been. I shuddered to even think of a hypothetical situation of something like that befalling my own daughters.

As I snapped back to the present moment, I got Brelyn’s attention again…

“You know, Brelyn, for a kid your age – allow me to call you a kid – I have two daughters – one a couple of years younger to you and another a couple of years older…”
“I certainly think of myself as a kid.”
“… for a kid of your age, as I was saying… you have an incredibly strong mind. I think, at the end of the day, that is what will make the biggest difference in your life.”

“Have you thought of going to college?”
“Yes. Right now I am working in the mornings to earn money.”
“What would you like to be when you grow up?”
“I have a couple of ideas…”
“You know what? That is the best thing. Don’t make up your mind yet. Keep it open – try out new things and then settle down on what you want to do the rest of your life”.

“Before we leave, can I take a picture with you – would love to post your story on my blog.”

“Sure thing. Send it to me on Facebook. I will read it up.”

Riding back the lonely backroads of Georgia, I got yet another understanding of what privilege means and how I still have so much to learn from folks that are one-third my age!!!

If any of you make it to Ellijay, try out Emily’s (great food and nice presentation – that will take you by surprise) and if you are there for lunch – make sure you say Hi to Brelyn (she pronounces her name like the cheese).

About a year and a half back, I had the craziest serendipity. Got to meet this young gentleman in an elevator and had he not ignored the notice in the elevator about which button to press, I would have probably never gotten to know him. Or realize that he grew up in my neighborhood. Went to our high school too!

Turned out Lucky and his girlfriend Lesly were at his parent’s place (in our small little town). Last week, finally, we found an evening for the four of us to go out for a drink and dinner in an open mall.

It was thoroughly an absorbing discussion. While Lucky and Lesly are still ways away from being half my age, the discussions were of great gravity and import. This included the larger purpose of life, relative importance of work (or not) and what throws us off the pursuit of happiness.

It was a great evening. I hope to run into them more often and have some more of those discussions. Truly impressed by the intelligence and the wisdom of the young folks of today.

“Rajib-da?”
That is what I thought the young gentleman asked as we ran past each other in the trail yesterday. I was not too sure since I had the Airpods on. He did look somewhat familiar as he passed me – but I was not sure at all.

But I heard the voice again a couple of seconds after he had passed me. I looked back to realize that I was clearly the subject of his address.

“Rajib-da, Avijit”

My mind was racing to map that face to all the Avijits I knew. Somewhere from the subconscious, bits of memory started flying around – beer, gin, airport, long hair… Finally, I thought I had pinned that face down. But I still had lingering doubts.

“I could not recognize you past your hair band”, I finally told him.
“Yes, the hair has grown too long in this virus season”.

This is the second time in my life I met Avijit.

Nine months back. It was end of October. I had a whirlwind trip to India to check on my parents, mother in law and the family. I remember checking in for my return flight a little early (the flight is at a God-awful hour of 3:30 in the morning or something) at Kolkata airport and heading straight to the business lounge. Whereas everybody was enjoying the sofa, lounge chairs and food there, I went and occupied one of the two chairs at the bar.

I was too tired. I just wanted to sit down by myself and enjoy a gin. There was absolutely nobody at the bar.

Eventually, the bar person showed up.

“Apni? Kemon aachhen? Kobey elen?”, he recognized me straightaway from all my quarterly visits. Apparently, I visit bars too often! After exchanging pleasantries and enquiring after his family, I asked for my gin and tonic.

Now if you ever go to that bar, you will notice that there is beer, wine and vodka in the shelf but no gin. But I knew what I was doing.

“Sure!”, he said and fished the one bottle of gin he keeps stacked underneath a hidden shelf. It is not the best gin – but it is gin alright. With Schweppes.

So, there I was. Finally united with my gin and tonic and catching up on my blog writing, when another young guy came up and sat at the other chair. And he got himself a beer.

I am not sure who opened the conversation (99% chance it was me) but soon I found out that he was in the same flight as I. I figured he was going to Doha and then like me will be flying to his work / home… I was headed to Atlanta.

“Where are you headed to?”
“USA”
“Do you live there?”
“Yes”
“Which flight from Doha?”
“Qatar 755”
“Atlanta?”
“Yes”
“You live there? Or are you heading out to somewhere from there?”
“No, I live in Atlanta”
“Where?”
By this time he was a little bemused at my inquisitiveness. To ease things, I let him know that I lived in Atlanta area too!

Well, that was a surprise! What is the chance I would sitting in a bar in Kolkata airport by myself and the guy sitting next to me was also heading to the same destination?

As the evening progressed, we found out that Avijit – he had introduced himself as Avijit – lived in Sandy Springs (about 10 miles from where I live) and that we had a few common friends.

Also, I found out that he preferred gin and tonic too but never realized that there was hidden stash and he simply had to ask for it!!

In fact, I remember that Sharmila and I had dropped him and his wife and daughter at their house. (They had come by train to pick him up). So all of us got to meet each other.

And that was that.

Till I heard that familiar voice calling out “Rajib-da!” again yesterday!!

It was good running into you Avijit again. I think two chance meetings should be hint enough. Next one, we probably should plan out, what do you say?

For the last six months, I have been working from Roam – a shared workspace kind of business. My usual routine is to sit down at a socially distanced table and get on to those unending video calls. Whenever it is a phone call, I get up and start walking around while being on the call to get some exercise.

Yesterday, I was on an hour long call with Anand Iyer and was pacing up and down outside the building when I thought it was getting too hot for me. So, I stepped in while being on the call and simply proceeded to walk inside the premises where it was comfortably air conditioned.

Usually I avoid the areas where the tables are so as to not disturb others while I am talking. Suddenly, a gentleman – I have seen him in Roam very regularly and later found out that his name is Jesper – flagged me down. I was half sure he was going to complain that I was being too loud. I could see he was on a video call – there was somebody on the other end of the camera on his laptop screen.

I excused myself from Anand and pulled my Airpods out, ready to apologize. Somewhat surprisingly, Jasper just pointed his finger to his screen. I realized that he wanted me to take a closer look at the screen. Which is what I did. And what do you know? That gentleman on his video screen was our good old Ian Goldberg!!!

That was one heck of a coincidence. Ian and I met last year in the context of an opportunity in our company. Eventually he went a different way. But we are part of the same family of companies owned by the same investment firm.

Apparently, when I was strolling around on the call, I walked behind Jasper and Ian could see me in his screen and immediately pointed out that he knew me! I am sure Jasper was as surprised as I was!!

Good news – I got to get to know Jasper and his company (they do some cool IoT stuff) and of course, now Ian and I have a crazy story to tell everybody!!

Something good did come out of all of us cooped up in our small tables on video calls – thanks to this virus!!

Greg and I had worked together long back. Like I mentioned in a previous post, even run together. (Strictly speaking, I think it was more like we started together and then he waited for me to finish up on the other side).

Today, we kept an old promise to motor bike together. And that gave me an hour and half of pure Greg time. And I am incredibly happy that I got it.

We immediately bonded over our dads. For the last few days I have been struggling with the fact that my dad has had yet another stroke and this time he has lost his speech. And I cannot even go see him – for another six to twelve months. Looks like Greg was very close to his dad – who is unfortunately no more. We exchanged notes on how dads are the ultimate influential figures for kids. Every dad is a first hero that a child ever knows.

But what I will always remember our morning for is Greg’s “Never Say Die” attitude. After he left the company we had both worked in, he took what looked like a great role across the other coast. I recollect talking to him before he took the job.

A few months later, I saw a post he had written on Linkedin on how his move did not work out and that he was not going to let this bring him down – instead he was glad he took a chance and now he is going to learn from it.

Reading his post, I remember thinking thru if there was some place in our company that he could be awesome in. Well, somebody else (who I do not know) also read that post. And one thing led to the other and Greg now has a job made in heaven for him. It was not just the job. It is the current virus led situation that has opened up an opportunity for him – and he has hammered it home to great success.

To think – if he had not faced that severe set back (and kept his chin up), he would have never had this dream opportunity!! As the old story from Taoism goes… you never know what is good and what is bad…

Although, Tao be danged, I know Greg is pure goodness!!

We live no more than a twenty minute drive away from each other but we do not get together as often as we should. Chris and I have worked twice together and have had to live thru some tough business situations together. Took the opportunity yesterday to meet him in Halcyon – where they have done a great job of seating arrangements out in the open for social distancing – and catch up on our families.

There were a lot of friends and updates we went thru from our past to be able to cover in one evening but we gave it a shot anyways. Chris might have dropped about 45 pounds in the last few months but none of his sharp sense of humor, for sure.

“Are you ready to jump back into the corporate world?”, I asked Chris who is enjoying time off from work.
He thought for a while and then added – “I think so. There is only so much of being a trophy husband at home I can take!”

Touche!
That is the sharp wit I miss when not around him!!!

Roam is one of those Wework kind of shared office spaces in Atlanta area. I think they have six or seven locations now in Atlanta area. I have had a membership for at least 10 years and whenever I am not traveling, I usually work from there. Consequently, I have gotten to know all the staff here over the years fairly well – and I think I joined here before any of the existing staff.

I have to admit this is one of the most friendly, helpful and professional staff I have had a chance to interact with during all my travels and work life. Thru the virus days, they kept the place open for people like us to work, opened up all offices free for members (usually you have to book and pay), put social distancing, sanitizers all over, re-tooled the doors so as to minimize contacts. And somebody from the staff would show up every morning before anybody else to make coffee and stack up free snacks and food for anybody who would show up.

Most of the days the whole huge place used to have two or three of us and we barely got to see each other. Now things have changed a little. There is still masks and social distancing. But we have more people working here.

Sharmila and I had decided to treat the staff to Indian lunch some day to say Thank You! Today was the day.

I was certainly a bit worried – given that Erin had not had Indian food before and the one time Micalah had Indian food – let’s just say it did not stay with her for too long! Katie, however cooks some Indian dishes at home and Zach is fairly well experienced in different culinary tastes.

The good news is that it worked out great. Everybody seemed to deal with the spiciness and flavors very well. Micalah even came back for more!

The conversations were even more enjoyable. Katie talked about her trips to India and Bali and we exchanged notes from our family trip to Bali a few years back. Zach’s family (I think he said his sister and her family) has been missionaries in Mongolia for the last four years. That brought back a lot of memories from Roger and my trip there three years back. And I found out that Erin’s best friend for 20 years is an Indian girl. Still have not figured out how she managed to escape without any Indian food for so long!!

I was without a ride today. In the morning, when I started from home, it was raining – so taking the motorbike to work like I normally do was out of the question. Sharmila had dropped me. But in the evening, I was stuck since Sharmila and Nikita had to go somewhere.

The solution was simple – I went downstairs from where I work and went to the Mexican restaurant and got myself a glass of wine. They have a few tables and chairs outside in a covered area. I was thoroughly enjoying the evening sitting out with some wine and watching the rain fall with a fair bit of fury.

Subsequently, made friends with the couple sitting at another table. They had caught my attention by how friendly they were. First they gifted some kind of vegetable plant in a pot to the gentleman who runs the place. Then they talked to the very young daughter of one of the workers there for some time. I had figured out by then that they had to be regulars there.

I had a fascinating time getting to know Steve and Bonnie. They live not too far away on a 4 acre property in the house that Bonnie’s grandmom built back in the 1920s! They apparently grow a lot of vegetables and love eating vegetables. We started talking about spicy food (given my Indian background). I learnt from Bonnie about Scoville scale of measuring heat (pungency – like heat in peppers or chillis) and how it is measured!

Steve and Bonnie has traveled extensively in Peru. We were there back in 2009. Exchanged notes on Mira Flores and that incredible restaurant in the middle of the ocean – La Rosa Nautica!

That was a great evening! Hope to meet them more often!

This Sunday, I was running in my trail – feeling rather pleased that I was coming up on the 3.5 mile marker (since that would mean I would be forced to complete a 7 mile run), when I passed somebody that at first glance looked like a very elderly gentleman shuffling along. What actually caught my eye was the back of his T-shirt. It read “Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body”.

As I went past him, I kept thinking of that saying. I was wondering where he got the T-Shirt from. I also had noticed as I passed him that he did not have any mask with him – and he was fairly elderly. I was thinking that he should take more precaution.

On my way back, I saw him coming towards me again. He clearly did not have a mask with him. So, I stepped on the other side of the trail path – giving him a clear 10 feet of social distancing – and said:

“Excuse me. I saw the writing on your T-shirt. I loved it. Can I take a picture of it?”
“You want to know how I got it?”, he asked – decidedly much friendlier than I was expecting.

Fifteen minutes later, I was able to construct a fascinating story of this gentleman. Apparently, he moved to Georgia sometime back and lost his wife twelve years back. One day, he saw an ad from the Marines that if anybody came and did some pull ups (that they stipulated) successfully, they could earn a T-shirt. Not knowing anything better, he made a beeline for the camp. He implied that he did not make it all the way to all the pull ups (he was pushing way over 70 years, for sure). But he got the T-shirt anyways. Sure enough, the front of the T-shirt had the familiar “Marines” insignia.

What I could not figure out from his sunburnt face and well kept beard was given away by a couple of distinct accents.

“You are from India, are you not?”
“Yes, from Punjab”.
“I am from West Bengal. Rajib. Rajib Roy”
“I am Amrit Aurora. I spell the French way”
“Ah! A-U-rora, then!”
“Exactly”

Turns out Mr. Aurora studied in UK. Worked in UK and Germany. Was recruited by Ford and immigrated to Michigan for 18 years. Eventually, moved to Georgia where is wife’s niece lives.

He walks in the trail – anywhere between 4 to 14 miles at a 4 mile per hour pace he told me. His starting point is on the other end from where I start. He admitted his memory is fading – could not remember some of the road names and gym names he used to go to but was certainly not lacking in willingness to duke it out physically.

I marveled at the fact that there is my dad – another 83 year old – he cannot get out of his bed and I go to see him every three months – and here is somebody – of the same age – merrily walking mile after mile – without any worry of the pandemic going around us.

We promised to stay in touch and talk more. (In fact, he already followed up yesterday).

“Before I let you go sir, what gives you the drive to stay this active?”

He thought for a while and said “Because every day I wake up is something I know many others don’t. And while we have done a lot of things – we can never create something as beautiful as nature”.

“Thank you sir, I will be in touch”.

Running back, I kept thinking how true his words were – the simplest things in life – like nature – are so beautiful. Yet, we wrap around ourselves artificial walls. To what end?