“You remember Yogesh?”, she asked.
“Sholapurkar?”, I asked
“Yes. You have a great memory”

I kept staring at her. Something was not computing in my mid.

Well, let me start from the beginning. It was one of those birthday calls back in January. Jasmine was my classmate from our MBA days. She is in London now. She has mentioned that she would be visiting her brother in Princeton in June. I had asked her to let me know when she comes and I will put in my best effort to see her.

I knew of Jasmine as those smart-and-beautiful types in our class but we did not have more than a passing knowledge of each other. I have to admit I started questioning that “smart” part when in June she gave me some of her travel details and actually said she would like to get together with me to remember our MBA days.

Well, to make a hash of the long story… there I was – this morning knocking at her brother’s door. She came out and I have to admit we must have surprised each other with our hair styles. I remember Jasmine’s face from 1989 and the chrysanthemum that her hair served as a background. Well, it has mostly completely straightened out. (I wonder whether she does what Sharmila does too !!). And, of course, my hair split with me decades back.

Having introduced me to her nephews and daughter, she asked me that question about Yogesh.

Here is the thing – I know of only one Yogesh in my life. He joined my first company in Bombay a year after me. I was assigned to do some training of that whole new recruit group. I remembered him as a particularly smart recruit. And I knew he lives in UK now. My synapses must have done some quick connections about he being in UK and she being in UK and asked “Sholapurkar”?

What I could not get is how they know each other. More importantly, even if they had run into each other in UK, how did the topic of me coming up? None of them know me that well.

And now we are back at the moment when I was staring at her…

“You know he is my husband, right?”

HOLY MACRO!!! All these days, I had independent knowledge of both of them, talked about families and all that and never for once realized they are are married to each other!! Of course, that led to the discussion of many more common friends from either side.

It was great seeing you Jasmine after three decades. I loved your perspective on MBA classes and when one should go for MBA. I wish I had spent some more time with you during 1989-1991. Some of that wisdom might have rubbed off on me.

But above all, as I told you on the phone also, I will always remember you and respect you (and Yogesh – now that I know that he is your husband) for one thing above all… for adopting your daughter. As I explained to you – during my time with the cause of battered women and kids in Dallas, one thing I learnt was that there are more kids than caring parents. Anybody who subtracts one from that problem is top notch in my books.

I got a glimpse today of the long period you had to endure to get the adoption done – but Sara (spelling?) could not have waited for more perfect parents.

May you and Yogesh’s tribe increase!!

Remember how I was going to lay a siege for Partha at his sister’s place? Well, as I was walking into Paromita’s apartment complex last night, I got a call from my best friend from Durgapur days – Avijit – who now lives in Perth, Australia. I told him that I was hoping to meet Partha and we talked about the time he (Avijit) had visited me in IIT Chennai and a rather memorable musical evening the three of us had had in my dorm room. That was 1988.

I even talked about that evening to Paromita and Mrs. Roy while waiting for Partha. And this morning during the run, I mentioned again about that evening to Partha.

This evening, Avijit – may his tribe increase – managed to extract a picture of that evening from his archives and sent it!

That is Avijit on the tabla, Partha singing and myself on the guitar!

First pic was moments before I was going to give up waiting for Partha. He was too late after a delayed flight. I said goodbye to Paromita and Mrs. Roy and was going to be on my way.
The second pic was moments after Partha walked in and had still not gotten over the surprise of seeing me!!

Last time Partho and I did some physical exercise together was back in 1989. Playing soccer in IIT-Chennai!! While he was a year junior, we had studied multiple times in the same school and college and thus got to know each other very well. in college, we were in the same dorm and in fact only about 6 rooms apart. I moved to Room 239 and he moved to the room I had before – 233.

The last time I saw Partho was in 2001 in Austin when he brought his sister – Paromita – (I distinctly remember his red Mazda Miata) to the hotel Sharmila and I were staying in (Four Seasons on river Guadalupe used to be our favorite weekend getaway then) for a Sunday brunch. Pinning down Partho thereafter has been a challenge. An incorrigible introvert, getting him to return my phone calls was harder than straightening out a dog’s tail. That said, this year, he did call me back!!!

But I was closing in on him. Last week, in a post, I had talked about visiting Natasha in NYC this week. Paromita (his sister) had tipped me that Partho will be in town too to visit her. Made some re-arrangements of my flight and laid siege in his sister’s house from 8PM. After about two and a half hours of waiting for him, I was almost ready to give up. His flight had been terribly delayed. Just as I was getting ready to leave his sister’s apartment, he walked in!!

The expression on his face was priceless!!!

We were too thrilled to see each other! We have a lot of memories together from the past. We used to play music together (he was a vocal singer and I used to play the tabla), we played soccer for our dorm team and even college team together and then there were those evenings of reading Sukumar Ray’s “Abol Tabol” together and breaking out into peals of laughter!! How can we ever forget “Aay re amaar moida thaasa naadus re”? !!

It was too late for all of us. So, we agreed to meet early morning in Central Park, go for a run and catch up on the past years.

It was a great run!! Partho, as elusive as you are, meeting you is always memorable!! We have to do another evening of “Abol Tabol” session !!

Having a drink with Garry Capers at an airport bar in Chicago!

That brings back too many memories. We were road warriors together – weekly trips to DC for a year – to build up a business that the company we worked in had bought. The weeks used to be exhausting. Integrating a fast growing innovative company to a hundred year plus staid culture company was not for the faint of the heart.

Sitting down every Thursday evening waiting for our much delayed flight at the Skyclub bar over a glass of wine was our “safety valve” session. Over those sessions, I had gotten to know Garry intimately. His incredible life journey how he grew up without his father and how that has made him deeply invested in his relationship with his daughters … his single minded determination to get himself a good education… the funny story about his first date (who he married and eventually Sharmila and I had the good fortune of getting to know Myla)…

Like I have always said and believed, building a successful business is never pretty from inside. In fact, growth is ugly when you go thru it. But seen later in rear view mirror, it is one of the most satisfying experiences you can think of in your professional life. And when you look back, as Michiko told me the other day – you rarely remember the numbers… you always remember the people.

Garry is one of those people I will always remember.

It was great having a drink together again at an airport with you, Garry!

May your tribe increase!

Couple of weeks back, my old friend and colleague Michiko was in town. Our schedules were a little tight but we decided to give it a shot anyways. Turns out, we were able to make it work out. Which was lucky for me because meeting Michiko means you are bound to pick up some great words of wisdom.

Over some wine we caught up on our old days of working together and some of our old colleagues. Michiko is a guru when it comes to Data and Analytics. She has done the whole gamut of Data Analytics – from developing models to selling the products. Now she is in management consulting – helping out companies with their strategy and operations in Data Analytics.

A memorable moment during our discussions was when I asked her about her take on where Data and Analytics has reached now – full 12 years after we had worked together in this area. “You see, Rajib, Analytics is sexy. Everybody talks about Analytics. Data is not getting enough focus because it is not that sexy. In fact, governance is the most ignored area of data – because it is not as shiny as Analytics”.

I knew that her background was in music. I did not realize that she plays both the piano and viola. Given that she has achieved so much in life, I asked her:
“Looking back on all your achievements, which one are you most proud of?”
“I am not allowed to be proud of anything”
“Meaning?”, I asked confused.
“Remember where I am from?”
“Japan, right?”
“Yes. In our culture we cannot be proud. It is considered uncouth to be proud”.

That was one of the most unique answers to a fairly common question that I ask people.

“Ok. Then tell me what work from your past – especially, when we worked together – do you remember the most?”, I pressed on.
“Nobody remembers the work, Rajib. You will remember the people.”
Truer words have not been spoken!!!

The funny part of our conversation came around when I asked her how she had met her husband. Believe it or not, they met in a chat room! Or as she put it – “The ’90s version of online dating!”

Michiko, it was simply outstanding to meet you. It was too short though. Let’s plan to have a longer meeting soon.