While vacationing in Belize three years back, I got a message from an old colleague Patrick Butler – who at that moment was in Nepal that I should go meet his old friend Giovanni – who was a bar owner there and ask him to make his special cocktail. So, Sharmila and I took a 50 minute golf cart ride to reach this much-advertised beach – ironically called Secret Beach.

While minding our own business in the waters there, we noticed an young couple nearby. To give them some space, we started moving away. We did not go far. The gentleman called us and asked if we could take a video of them dancing. To which we readily obliged.

Of course, a call to take a photo or video in Rajib-speak translates to a life time of friendship! We got to know Sara Marie and Lee and their fascinating journey that evening. And ever since, we have kept up thru birthdays.

Lee’s is an incredible life story of pain and ultimate triumph of happiness. I am a big follower of his writings in Facebook and Linkedin. I have never – literally never – seen anybody that matches his gracious attitude and magnanimity!

I got an interesting request from Sara Marie today (it is Lee’s birthday today). Apparently Lee is a very difficult person to find a gift for. So, she did something very personal. She wrote up about him in her own words.

And reached out to me to see if I could publish it in my blog!!

If you go to the Guest Writer section of my blog, you will see this heartfelt piece from her… https://www.rajibroy.com/2025/08/04/from-orphaned-in-korea-to-lighting-up-the-world/

It is Lee’s birthday!

And Sara Marie’s gift!!

But I was asked to put it in my blog!!

I assert I am the happiest of them all today!!!

Sara Marie and Lee, we are incredibly lucky that such a chance meeting happened to us. We got to know two very special people!!

The interaction started fairly innocuously. I was entering the Skyclub in SFO a bit tired and a bit worried about the red eye flight that I had to take to go home. The lady at the front asked her usual “How are you doing”. And without any second thought, I came up with my usual “If I did any better….”. She laughed her head off and we chatted a bit.

It was late at night and there was only one flight for Delta left that night. There were a couple of us in the club. She came up to me at the bar where I posting some blogs from my trp to Tonga and introduced herself. America is her name.

“America iss your name?”, I asked incredulously.

“Yes. It is not that uncommon in Mexico!”

I did not know that!! Found out that America Juarez Ruiz (her full name) is from outside Mexico City and had a fascinating story of how she came to the USA as a tourist and eventually mmet her husband while struggling to find the right tram route in SFO!!

“So, if I were to visit Mexico, where should I go?” I asked.

She gave me two names of places that I had never heard of – but the pictures looked gorgeous – Grutas de Tolantongo and Teotihuacan.

Later Sharmila mentioned she might have seen those pictures in Conde Nast!

I know where to go soon!!

It was 1980. The exact part of the year escapes me but I was in eighth grade. We had moved to our new place the year before. Mom needed some test papers to be sent to her school (she was a school teacher) but she was going to skip school that day. She sent me to a colleague of hers who lived the next street over to drop the papers. Which I duly did.

I remember meeting that teacher (I call her “Masi“) and her husband (I called him “Kaku“) for the first time. I answered all their questions – but refused to come inside the house. Not that the “mishtis” (sweetmeats) were not inviting… it was just that my friends were waiting on the playfield for me to join them.

That day, if you had told me that forty five years later I will be driving a boat to take “Masi” around to spend a day on a lake, I would have told you that you were smoking the wrong stuff!!!

But that day did come around!!

Wish mom was alive to hear the whole story…

Quite unexpectedly, I woke up this morning to a message from Gagan that they were in Atlanta. Eshan is starting an internship in midtown and they were here to settle him down. Of course, that meant we needed to get together that evening.

I got to know Gagan in Oct 1995 when he finally joined the start up company after threatening to do so for quite some time! The four of us – Bharti, Sharmila and we two – had gotten very close to each other with all those hours of coding together and then going out for lunch or dinner together.

If I remember correctly, they got married one year after we got married. They had their first child exactly one year after we did. And of course, they had their second child also one year after we had ours!

This week, we had the opportunity to host Sonali at our place. I think the other picture was in Florida.

Nearly 26 years back, I had interviewed this gentleman at my alma mater and then hired him. We worked together for a few years and then I moved on. Abhay was in town and we got a chance to meet up!! Hope to see him more often…

Good old Jillian! She used to work in one of the hospices that I used to volunteer in. This is nearly 10 years back!! Found out that her son is a chef in Sunset Grille!

The first time I met Nandini was after I had already left Durgapur. I was in a residential school for my 11th and 12th grades. This was 1984 Feb. I was visiting home for Saraswati Pujo. Went to see the Pujo in the nearby school where most of my friends were doing their 11th and 12th grades – Bidhan Chandra Institution.

A common friend that day had introduced me to Nandini. Can’t say we were in touch a lot till her son Spandan came to the USA for his studies. She was visiting him in Austin this week. And I showed up!!

Spandan and I have talked before but was not aware of his varied interests in life – running, biking, swimming, reading…

There was a topic we talked a lot about. The context was how our parents used to force us to study all the time to get good grades. The topic de jure was- did our school grades co-relate at all with success – any which way you want to describe success – in life?