Another goal fulfilled – quite accidentally and again thanks to Facebook – during this trip to India was to meet up with my friend Shridhar Sethuram. We studied MBA together in IIM-A and frankly I would not say we were very close those days. However, it is his arc of life after the MBA days that has fascinated me. He has achieved a lot that I have been dreaming for some time. I have been trying to look for an opportunity to be in the same city as he for quite some time. Finally, managed it in Bombay. He was gracious enough to join Sharmila and myself for breakfast at the Executive Lounge in JW Marriott.

I cannot recollect ever going to meet a friend with paper and pen in hand. I had my questions ready. It was more of an hour and half of interview than meeting really. I also brought Sharmila since I thought he shared with me the same traits that led her to call me “quirky”. Her verdict, at the end of the day, was that Shridhar is myself on steroids 🙂

We were scheduled to meet at 7:30am and he showed up on the dot at 7:30. When thanked for showing up on time (I did not want to miss a single minute of my time with him), he pointed out that he has trained himself to be on time – everywhere, without fail. Sharmila looked at me and rolled her eyes 🙂 (major source of argument at my home – I insist on being on time always 🙂 ).

We have all learnt geography in our elementary schools. And sitting in those classes, we often thought dreamy eyed about visiting those esoteric country names we had to learn about. Except, Shridhar actually did it. Fascinated from elementary days geography, he started visiting different countries every year after we left school. Every year, he takes time off multiple times, brings his backpack out and hits the road. Evidently, he never plans out his visit – just shows up in the country with the visa and starts asking around people and uses buses, autos, bikes whatever he can. He has so far covered 89 countries. Is planning to hit 100 soon. One marvelous thing I learnt : “What if you cannot get any local help?”. “Rajib, anywhere you go – even in the shadiest areas, people always – ALWAYS – want to help you. Especially, if they realize you are not from their parts of the world”. “How about local language?” “We figure it out”. That has to be the greatest sense of adventure of all.

The pictures from his backpacking can be found at his blogsite http://www.backpackthrulife.com

One virtue Shridhar said backpacking has taught him is the sense of simplicity. When your entire life has to be packed in a bag, you quickly can get rid of the “extra” stuff in life and get tremendously focused. He goes around in Bombay (he works in an investment firm) in his bicycle!! (Not the motorized kind!!)

So, I asked him if there was anything he picked up locally that has stuck with him. “Dancing”, he said. It would appear that both of us were blessed with two left legs when it came to dancing. And both of us have been to more Latin countries more number of times than most of our friends. While, I stayed away from the dance floor, he saw that as a hindrance to understanding local people. Got himself a teacher and now has been dancing for six years!! I think I am going to still take a pass on that one 🙂

And thus the morning rolled on… from his marathon runs to yoga practices to meditation. About thirty minutes were spent on exchanging our views on the “Art of Living”. We jousted on the concept of classes for Yoga (I am against any form of group classes – I believe that when a student is ready, he or she will seek his or her guru). We delved into the essence of spirituality versus religion, the true purpose of Yoga – stretching or meditation, value of poetry versus music and such topics that most people would be utterly bored by.

But for me, I finally met somebody that I have immensely admired and would absolutely love to take a few steps with in this short life.

Do you think backpacking in a new country with Shridhar should be added to my bucketlist for the sabbatical year that is coming up?

After breakfast with Shridhar and a chance meeting with Deep, I came down to my room and was enjoying the view of the Arabian Sea and Juhu beach right in front of us, when I received a FB message from a friend of mine from yesteryears.

Carol Krishnamohan was visiting Mumbai from Hong Kong! In fact, she had brought her kids to play in the beach!! In Juhu beach!!! Right in front of our room!!!

A quick phone call, hurriedly getting the Marriott security guy to open the back gate to the beach and a brisk walk later, I met Carol – after over twelve years. We used to work together in the late 90s – very early 00s – in i2!! Found out that her husband – Mohan is an avid runner too!!!

At this point of time, I will no longer protest if you think I am making up all these stories. I am myself stunned by serendipity and fortunate coincidences!!!

Last day in India. As I finished up my breakfast meeting with Shridhar (more on this 100 country backpacker later) and started saying goodbye in the Executive Lounge of JW, guess who walks in with that characteristic unforgettable smile of his?

Deep Bhattacharya from Shanghai!!

I met him in Atlanta thru a common friend more than a year back and ran together in Fowler Park. And then I run into him in Bombay!! Apparently he has checked into this hotel too!!

Unfortunately, both of us had to run… but these are the fleeting moments of interaction points that make our lives so enriched!!!!

Sharmila meets her friend from college days…

For friends may come and friends may go
But you are my first friend for ever…

(Me and Khokon – then and now)

Waiting at the agreed upon spot. Khokon will be here any moment now….

Sometimes when all modern technologies like social media, Google maps and GPS fail, you resort to manual labor. Had a surprising outcome today trying to do that.

Having failed to track down Anindya – my friend from my very early childhood days, today I went to the house that he used to live in the mid seventies (that I could best recollect).

A middle aged person came out, rather amused by my look (clean shaven heads are not that common in North Avenue of Durgapur). “Kaakey chai”? (“Who are you looking for”?)

I tried my best to explain the situation – “Dekhoon, prai chollis bochor aage, ei baaritey Babu boley ekta chhele thakto. Bhalo naam Anindya Sarkar. Kothay ekhon thakey jaanen? Ba ke boltey paarbey jaanen”?. (“You see, forty years back, there used to be a friend of mine called Babu who lived in this house. Also called Anindya Sarkar. Would you know where he is now? Or would you know who might know his whereabouts”?

You can only imagine my reaction when the gentleman replied “Aarey Bachchu, amakey chintey paarli na? Babuda rey!!! (“Bachchu, can you not recognize me? I AM that Babuda”)

He has lived in the same house for nearly fifty years. And I had been looking for him all over social media!!!!

Thanks to modern technologies like FB and GPS and not so modern technologies like stopping a pedestrian and asking for directions, my brother and I last evening traced down another friend of mine from the early eighties – Kaushik Chatterjee!! I was fortunate to meet his parents as well as his sister who was visiting him. (His sister was all of five or six years when I left town).

Again, so many memorable moments of yesteryears were remembered in one evening that I cannot possibly jot them down.

However, the most enjoyed one was not about all those soccer games, cricket games, “pochisey boisakh” street drama events but a really hapless, sick streetdog was called “Tilka”. Kind of half adopted by a few neighbors – and by that, I mean the neighbors would yell for Tilka from the streets to eat some leftover food from lunch and dinner – this mutt was a common feature on the field during our games. And every winter around this time, she would have a litter of puppies that we – at that age – used to find to be the cutest thing ever!! Kaushik’s mom used to be very supportive of those puppies – offering rags, milk etc etc.

Speaking of playing cricket, uncle (Kaushik’s dad) had taken great sympathy towards us watching us play cricket with a bat that had outlived itself by a thousand years (those days parents buying us a bat was a rare luxury – there were way too many family priorities at every house before we could buy a bat) and unbelievably enough had actually carved a bat and three stumps out of a block of wood.
That “segun gaachher kaather” bat outlasted us and the next generation of kids from my neighborhood.

Thirty two years later, I am mature enough to understand his depths of empathy to prioritize our needs in the field over so many other things he had to do. Thirty two years later I got a chance to meet him face to face and thank him. I let him know I still think of that event as an example if why I should step back and create some enriching experience for kids!!!