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!

Definitely a big fan of my blog, I will remember Chante for her cheerfulness and her kindness.

I distinctly remember the day. It was Sunday, July the 10th, 1983. Nearly 40 years back. It was so far back that there was no such thing as an Apple Macintosh at that time. Compact Discs (“CD”s) were going to be soon introduced.

On that day, I landed up in my first residential school. I was 16 years old. My friend from middle school – Pratik and I became room mates in the dorm of our new school. We set up our room after reaching around noon and then ventured out to bid our dads goodbye. They had come to help us out and had to go back home – which was about five hours away.

Our room had a third bed. We were curious who our other room mate was going to be.

When we came back to our room. there was a lady who was setting up the third bed by herself. I figured that was our room mate’s mom. I introduced myself. She told us about Rahul Guha – her son, and our new room mate.

She asked us about our backgrounds, our families and filled us in with Rahul’s details. Rahul, in the meanwhile, was nowhere to be found. He had gone to look for his old friends. (Rahul had studied in that same school in his earlier years; hence was very familiar with the campus).

Finally, Mrs. Guha offered us a lot of sweets. Which we readily grabbed.

Over the next two years, I had the chance to visit Mrs. Guha at her residence in Kolkata a few times. Usually a few of us – Dip and Navin come to mind immediately – would land up at Rahul’s place to have a good time and some delicious food.

Rahul and I then went our separate ways in 1985 after finishing high school. I did get a chance to meet him once in Jadavpur in the ‘80s and then a few years back when he was in Atlanta for work.

As it turns out, Rahul came to the US in 1991 and spent most of his time in New York and Boston.

A couple of years back, he moved to Chicago. While wishing him happy birthday the other week. I realized that Mrs. Guha was visiting him.

I am sure by now you have guessed that I fox trotted to his house moment work took me to Chicago. The three of us talked a lot about our old times and that house in Kolkata. It was incredibly exciting to see Mrs. Guha after so many years. The only downside was that I missed Mr. Guha – who we unfortunately lost a few months back!!

Like those good old days, this day too, Mrs. Guha made a cup of tea for us. With the unforgettable Bourbon biscuits (no relation to the brown alcohol) from India, no less!!

Hope to see Mrs. Guha again when I am in New Delhi next time!!

I think it was 2019. Every Monday evening when I walked into Marriott Schaumburg, Alex would be there ready with my room key and the laundered clothes that I had left previous Thursday. I got to know about her family – especially her dad. All the four sisters got very close to him after their parents divorced.

Alex then moved to another property and now is the manager at Renaissance Ohare. Over lunch today, I learnt about her full lifestory. The most entertaining was how she met her boyfriend! I also did not know before the meeting that Villalobos is a Peruvian last name meaning the Village of Wolves!