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”

We missed our weekly meetings – I believe, three in a row. Or something like that! Met very late (by my standards, anyways) and had some fun for an hour…

… I am not exactly a night owl. But then again, with great company like that of these two, even I can stay up past midnight in the bar!

Had a great evening session with the three Mukherjees – Amitesh, Samaresh and Anindya. One of the topics we veered into was – “what new skills are you trying to learn?”.

There is a fantastic article in The Guardian on this topic of why, as adults, we should keep pushing ourselves to learn new things. If you ever get a chance, read it. And hopefully you will get inspired to start something new.

Samaresh is learning a new language – Spanish. He wants to visit Spain and talk to the locals in their language!

Here is a question for you all… what might be a new skill I should try learning? Knowing me, quirkier the idea, the more I will be attracted to it!

Anything you have tried and enjoyed learning?

Best part of the evening was 4-year old Chiku. He could spell tough, long words – mostly dinosaur related – better than I could!!