It was a great evening with Sonali and Vikram. Other than the bar hopping, we managed to get in some great debate and discussion around religion and meditation. Religion can be a very divisive topic. But the debate was very healthy and constructive.

Sonali is a great listener and has mastered the art of articulating counter arguments. I found myself again in a familiar spot – having to defend a position that I personally do not believe in. (which sometimes I enjoy more than arguing for the positions I believe in).

Vikram was quiet most of the time. But he has promised to pick on his favorite divisive topic in the next meeting – the Second Amendment. Now, I have to find out which way he is going to argue. So that I can mentally prepare myself for the other view.

Looking forward to it!!

Saw Soumen after a long time. His was the first house we had been invited to after we moved to Atlanta. With Amitesh and Soumen around, discussions were invariably of more serious nature – politics, religion and such that requires you to have a safe zone to have open dialogs.

Great time spent!

With Rupak, Jasmine, DJ and PJ !! It was a little on the colder side on the roof but the fire kept us comfortable…

The last time we came out to Alpharetta downtown with Rupak and Jasmine was a year back… we took aa walk on the loop by the building that has now become our house!! And today, she was carrying the two pair of socks that I had given her that day to keep herself warm!!!

Met up with Amitesh after a long time. First he was down with cold and then I was traveling too much. I think we had skipped our weekly meetings by over a couple of months. In any case, we were determined to meet up today.

After Hannah took our picture in Abbot’s Bar and Grill, I showed him the picture and commented “We got the traffic light colors covered – green, red and orange”. Not sure whether he was too tired after all the driving to the airport and back or half a glass of wine had already hit the sweet spot for him – his response was “Blue is missing.”

And I was like – “You are confusing traffic lights with the cops that pull you over!” 🙂

Anyways, we then moved on to more serious topics like how James Bond completely messed up the martini cocktail!

… we landed up celebrating Diwali at our place last night.

Good old Anand was in town. We met with some of our old friends. And that spanned three companies. Yes, Anand and I have worked together in three of the five companies I have ever worked in – and No, he does not hold the record. That would go to Raj Sundaramurthy – four out of the five companies!!

After finishing with our friends, Anand and I spent over an hour together reflecting on life. In a way you can do, with a person that you have known for over a quarter century. We were talking about our old friends and people we knew. I was telling him how I got to know many people more intimately (in terms of what they have gone thru in life) AFTER we actually stopped working together.

“Well, at some level, every person is unknowable”, said Anand.
“How do you mean?”, I asked, rather perplexed.
“Well, you know a person only to the part they will open up to. You never know how much more they are not letting you in”.

It took me a few moments to let the depth of his observation sink in.

Indeed, it is true that every impression I have of any individual is deeply flawed by the fact that it is based on only what they have let me on to. I really do not know what I do not know about them!!

Think about that for a moment!!

Thank you Anand for once again making me think deeply!!

I saw the whole gang after almost six months!! Good to see that the old joie de vivre is still intact!

I think the idea was for me to pick up our car from the Ray house. Which, I did eventually. But before that, there was more wine, lots of smoke, a birthday cake and a lot of bengali “adda”