20 January
2014
9 January
2014
Perspective on History
One advantage I have of making a lot of friends is that I get to interact with some really smart and wise individuals. Had a drink with a few of them today. The discussion went around Snowden – traitor or whistleblower? A memorable quote from a guy at the discussion I admire immensely – “History is not about the truth. History is the opinion of the victors”!!
30 December
2013
Chalu-pa run across the continents
The Sunday morning Bengali running group was on vacation. However, everybody ran at 8 am on Sunday in a virtual Chalupa run. The first five pictures are from a few members running on the beaches of Florida, the next two are Sudakshina and Manas doing the authentic run in Atlanta and the last one is myself and my brother running in India. Apparently distance cannot separate our running together spirit….
19 December
2013
Perfect antidote !!!
After the stress of the prospect of having to cancel our India trip (visa issues for Natasha) and the scramble to end the year at office, meeting Amitesh for a few late hours was the perfect antidote that the doctor had prescribed. Nothing can take my mind off than sitting with Amitesh at a very quiet bar nearly into midnight discussing topics that few would think of as “bar topics” 🙂
Today, we spent a lot of time discussing (and researching on internet)
(*) the effect of Calcium level in heart by high level of LDL in blood. (don’t ask me how we got started)
(*) the importance of understanding why we do what we do (especially in professional life)
(*) the relativity of the definition of happiness (this is an effect of a prior FB post)
(*) the plight of gays in India (recently, India has taken a Russia-like position on gays)
While the topics can be mundane, the discussions are always lively !!
10 November
2013
Annual Run with “Luchi Bhoj”
After our Sunday morning Bengali run today, we all gathered together for our annual post-run picnic with luchi, mangsho, aloor dum, begun bhaja, dahi vada etc etc. Do not worry if you do not understand what those food items are. All you need to know is that what we stock up in calories on this day, we spend the rest of the year running every Sunday to get rid of them 🙂
This is also a good way to attract other Bengalis to our Sunday morning run event (for the food, if not the run). So, this event is alternately also known as our Annual Membership Drive day 🙂
28 people in all – although 3 did not get a chance to run or walk with us!!
7 November
2013
Eating gold???
I have a question for all of you…
Last night, my colleague Leigh Ann and I went for dinner in London and we ordered some champagne. You see those flaky stuff in the drink ? Those are not bubbles – those are 23K gold flakes!!!
I have never had any drink with gold flakes in it! The funny part – the price was no different than any other glass of champagne. So here are my questions:
1. What is the root of this practice of putting gold flakes? Is it just to make it seem fancy?
2. Is it not dangerous to health to ingest rare metals like gold? Conversely, is there any known beneficial effect?
It was a little jarring though. I kept having this visual in my mind where I was eating food along with the aluminum foil it was wrapped in 🙂
26 October
2013
Quiet evening…
18 October
2013
Sindoor Khela
13 October
2013
Mr. Whitney!
No trip to Dallas is complete without meeting this guy. After our business work was over and we left, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to take a picture of him.
One quick phone call later, both of us pulled over to the side of the street. Unfortunately, there was nobody to take a picture of us. So, we had to make do with a precariously balanced iPhone and a couple of stones on a raised concrete step and a misfiring camera app!!!
12 October
2013
Thirty years later….
Today was the start of Durga Puja in Atlanta – the biggest festival for us Bengalis. Everyone dresses up in the best traditional clothes and shows up for various events for about three days.
I, too, showed up in my traditional clothes – which is a pair of shorts and a panel shirt. 🙂
The first thing that happened was that I got a dressing down from my wife for showing up in shorts. As I was cowering down and settling in a bench, the second thing happened!
A guy walked up to me and asked “Are you Rajib Roy”? I was almost like “Yeah. Who wants to know?”, when I looked up. And in a fraction of a second, thousands of neurons and dendrons must have connected (or whatever it is that connect when you remember something from the past) – and I yelled “Prabasaj Paul”?
He was one year senior to me in the residential school I went to for junior and senior years of high school. (11th and 12th grade). He was a legend in his academic prowess. So many times, he was my last resort when I was absolutely stumped with a problem and nobody could help me!!!
Last time I saw him was in March 1984!!! Almost 30 years back!!
It was unbelievably good to see him again!!!
