I had posted about the FAA computer glitch this morning and that I could see from my hotel window how the runways in SFO were totally empty. Somebody else also was looking at the empty runways from his hotel room a couple of miles away from me. That was Ranga my friend from college days – in fact, we were in the same hostel (dorm) during my engineering days and I had become fairly close to him and his parents and siblings who lived in Kolkata for some time.

“Rongoraajon”, as he would be called in Kolkata!!

He saw my FB post and we quickly realized that we were very close to each other. I was heading out for the airport in a few minutes. He had meetings during the day and was going to go back home (San Diego) in the evening.

It was a shame that we stayed this close to each other for a couple of days and did not get to see each other.

Not so fast.

From inside my hotel shuttle to the airport, we started texting and he offered to drop me at the airport on his way to the meetings. So, I got down from the shuttle, pulled out my suitcase and waited for him.

He showed up in 10 minutes.

That 8 minute ride to the airport was a big upgrade to my original plans.

Always good to see this old friend again!!

I had settled down at Divine Cafe to catch up on some quick work when a familiar face walked up to me – “Are you not Rajib Roy?”.

“That I am”, I replied as I recognized my colleague Patrick Tan from fifteen years back. In fact, when I moved to Atlanta, we used to work in the same team. I had not kept up with him for many many years.

It felt good to catch up on his professional life, how his three kids have grown up and even got to meet his wife. (She took the picture).

I am so glad that he recognized me from the other end of the cafe!

Ran into old colleague Sri Chari at the Atlanta airport. I was waiting for my backpack to make it thru the security check when Sri, who had spotted me first, called out my name. Fortunately, both of us were flying out of Terminal A. That gave us an opportunity to settle down in the Skyclub there and catch up on our lives over the last decade.

I was sitting at my desk working in one of those shared office space places in Alpharetta when a young Indian gentleman started approaching me. He seemed new to me. I have been working out of that place for over 12 years and could not recollect seeing him before.

“Rajib?”

Well, that surprised me. I thought he was going to ask for some help or directions in the new place. But it seemed like we knew each other.

“Yes. You have to help me out a little here.”

“20 years back. Dallas.”

“i2?” I asked.

“Yes”, he replied. But I still could not put the face and a name together.

“You have to help me a little bit more.” I admitted.

“Pradheep Sampath.”

That is when it clicked. Product Manager in Nayan’s group. All sorts of three letter acronyms – LSP (large scale planning), SPP (Spare Parts Planner) started flowing fast thru my stream of consciousness.

From there, the joining of dots flew fast and thick. We remembered a lot of our past friends and some memorable events from our Dallas days.

I had to get back to my Zoom calls after the coffee break. But, good news is that Pradheep will be visiting Alpharetta from DC regularly. Looking forward to spending more time with him!!

(As a reflection point later in the day, it reminded me of something I tell my folks at work always. When we meet again many years later, we will forget product names and financial numbers. We will always remember people and specific interactions. That is how we humans are.)

I was at the Korn Ferry dinner this evening (thank you Jeff Mckinnis) and guess who was sitting at our table? Good old Mark Herrington!!! Another colleague from the 90s that I had not seen in over 20 years!! What a great coincidence!

“What do you want to be written on your tombstone?”, I asked her.

This is a question I often ask people I meet – not to be too dark, but to get a perspective of long term view of their own lives from them. Most of the answers revolve around core values of people – kind, family person, love, made a difference etc etc.

So, I was completely unprepared for what Robin had to say after giving it a few seconds of thought…

“BADASS!”

I laughed out aloud. That is so Robin. Right from the days in i2 back in the ‘90s, I remember her as the ultimate change maker. A lot of those fiesty arguments of QA vs QC (in software) came flashing by immediately!!

Following that, her career has been nothing if not “Badass”. Multiple times CEO, great exits and helping the community of startups grow – those are a few of the things that have defined her.

What has absolutely not changed is her sense of gratitude towards folks who she had worked with in the past. Which is what got her to drive thru Atlanta morning traffic for an hour and have a breakfast with me! (She was in town for some business)

I felt special that she did that for me. Getting to hear her personal reflections in life was nothing short of enlightening.

But then again, I would not expect anything less from a self-styled “Badass” person, either!!

It was just the other day Shreyoshi – we called her “Munu” – was this young little girl dancing on the Durga Puja stage with other youngsters – including our own daughters – in Dallas. And her little brother would cling on to her mom – Anindita all the time crying – while Anindita taught all these young girls how to dance on the stage.

And that Shreyoshi has grown up so much today. She was in Atlanta for a BCG project. And we were able to meet her before she headed out to the airport.

It was incredibly heartening to see how mature she has become. Very well articulated and very thoughtful in her answers. And her humility was striking.

Came back home and dug up some of the pictures I had of her from yesteryears!

Hope to see this young lady on the road more number of times and learn new things about how the next generation thinks.

… two had to be better.

I took leave from the very reluctant Gangulis and headed to the hotel. And then I remembered that it was somebody else’s birthday – Deval’s mom’s!

In the morning I had asked her to make sure she wished her mom on my behalf. And asked what were the celebration plans. She told me that they were going to Big Bowl.

So, there I was at Big Bowl, hoping to spot some Gujarati ladies. In about a minute I was right there at the table with Deval, her sister Krupal, her daughter Jessie and her mom (Shaku). I needed to at least say Thank you to her for unfailingly supplying me with Gujarati snacks and savories even now when I go to office. And of course, there are those LP records of her late husband!

I could not spend more than 5 minutes but it was thrilling to spring that surprise on her!!!

This was one of those really intense weeks. Both personally and professionally. Technically, I think it is called “week from hell”.

On Tuesday, I finally finished up my stuff at office at around 6. Only because nobody else was there. And I had another 6-8 hours of work left. The idea was to go to the hotel, sit at a corner with a glass of wine and pound thru the work.

Except, I suddenly had a brainwave. It was Ranajoy’s birthday. He lived not too far from my office in Chicago. We go back to elementary school days in Durgapur in India. And while wishing him a happy birthday, I had found out he had plans to go to Maggiano’s for dinner!!

I knew that restaurant. Made a beeline for it just to spend 10-15 minutes with him and his wife, Madhumita. You should have seen the surprise on his face!!

The last time I saw them was seven and a half years back when Natasha and I were in the city.

It was so good to see them. But next time, I will keep more time so I can at least have a drink with them.

I had finished my dinner with Jon and had pulled up the rental car to the valet at the hotel. I saw the valet guy take the keys from the person who had the previous car and walk towards the car. Then, on second thoughts, he ran back to the person who was going up the steps to the checking in counter. I could see he asked him something, the guest nodded, both smiled, shook hands and parted.

“Is he somebody famous?” I asked the valet looking at the clean shaven, well built African American gentleman walking away. I was expecting him to be some kind of professional athlete.

“Yes. He is Mr. Booker”

Now, I have to admit I did not know who exactly Mr. Booker was but the name was vaguely familiar. The valet guy for some reason told me he is the mayor of DC. Which my irate daughters later pointed out is actually a lady. And this was the famous senator from New Jersey – Mr. Cory Booker.

After he was done checking in, I was wondering whether I should go and talk to him. He probably gets too many strangers walking up to him and bothering him.

I finally took the plunge. “Mr. Booker?”, I asked as he was grabbing a couple of bottles of water.

He turned back and said “Yes.”

“How many times do you get asked that question everyday?” I asked. Since I could not come up anything better or more interesting to ask.

“More than you think”, he said and laughed and put me at ease.

It should have ended there with me wishing him good night.

Instead, I proceeded – “I am from Atlanta but I have a daughter in DC. She just started in GWU.”

“Really, what is she studying?”

“Well, she wants to do law”

“We need smart kids in law. Good for her.”

“I know this is imposing on your privacy but would you be open to taking a picture with me? My daughter will be thrilled” I asked a little worried that incessant requests like this probably irritates folks like him.

“Oh! absolutely!”

As I was trying to look around to ask somebody to take our picture, he did something startling. He took the phone away from me.

“What is your daughter’s name?”

“Nikita!”

He put the camera on video mode and started taking a video of him and me. And he said “Hey Niki! Here I was minding my own business here in Milwaukee and this guy who can be my stunt double walks up to me and says he knows you. Hope he knows you! Wish you all the best. You have a cool dad!”

And I am yelling “Oh! My God!!!”

Then he took a selfie with me, made sure I got his Chief of Staff Veronica’s contacts (who also a took a selfie with me) and asked me to pass it on to Niki and that if she wanted an internship ever, she should contact Veronica.

We bade each other adieu. I checked in and went to my room. And then sent the video to the girls. One remonstrated with me for not mentioning her name and the other was in sixth heaven.

But for once, both agreed that dad may not be always somebody to be embarrassed of.

That was my 15 minutes of fame!!