The Aroras and the Roys had not had their progenies yet. Many a weekend lunch and dinner used to be spent just like that picture. Lot of laughing and a little of eating.

For the record, to explain Gagan’s face, I must admit that I had timed one of my jokes precisely at the time he had taken a mouthful of beer. He could neither spit it out (august company and all that) nor gulp it (for fear of choking while suppressing laughter – or worse, snorting the beer out). Had to laugh with a mouthful of beer.

If we had smart phones a quarter century back, I have no doubt, I would have had similar pictures from those days too!

Thank you Gagan and Bharti for driving all the way to the city, buying me drinks and then dropping me where my college dorm reunion was going on.

This weekend, I attended our IIT-hostel (engineering college dorm) get together in Seattle. I will write about that later.

One of those hostel mates who showed up was Ranga (Sampath Rangarajan, if my memory serves me right). He was one of the few that I used to be close to and I even got to know his parents and siblings. In fact, every year, I look forward to my conversation with his dad on his (dad’s) birthday.

This time, Ranga, always the enterprising guy was not only busy leading a lot of activities – dancing, hiking, antakshari (a type of song competition) – he was our lead photographer too. At least, he was toting his Canon DSLR and taking a lot of pictures and then dutifully uploading them on our group website.

No photographer myself, I still started talking to him about his camera with the modicum of knowledge I could muster from yesteryears. Eventually, I got curious about what all lenses and other paraphernalia he was carrying with him in his sophisticated looking camera bag.

And among various other photography related accoutrements, as evidenced by the picture, I found a bottle of Hajmola (look it up) and one of Tylenol!!

I guess it is a case of being better safe than sorry!

Anand, Sharmila and I knew each other before we had any kids. That is a quarter century back! In the meanwhile, Anand and I managed to work in three companies together!

He was in town for office meetings and swung by our house to meet Sharmila. I am fairly sure I did not drink that much but I was seeing two of him most of the time 🙂 🙂

We had originally thought of riding to Woodstock but the sharp showers put paid to all our plans. Instead, we just drove up to Halcyon and settled on the rooftop bar at Hobnob. The evening weather started a bit oppressive but quickly cooled down and turned out to be very pleasant.

Some great discussions with Avi – from politics to factfulness to social media to treasured memories from childhood!

Topic de jure was love and marriage (and how marrying for love is a very recent thing).

The ride of life is unpredictable. The best laid plans of mice and men are but to humor Fate. Yet, those who bounce back from the vagaries of luck are but the best and the strongest.

It was so great to see two of the best and the strongest today over a quick lunch and then chat under the shade of aa tree in the parking lot – Atashi and her daughter Ira. I do not want to assume for once that pain of any bereavement ever goes away; but I salute those who pick up their broken pieces and move forward with the single minded determination of making the most of what we are given in life.

Best house guests ever. Because they will let me pour alcohol at will, allow me to talk about topics varying from glass calligraphic pens to psoriatic arthritis! But best of all because Shauna (and Sharmila) has given Roger and me the permission to go on our next adventure trip!!

As you know, our rule is we go to a country that most of us know nothing about. It was Mongolia last time. Seems like Azerbaijan is the front runner in our ignorance this time!

It is always fun to host the Whitneys!