24 November
2016
24 November
2016
Nikispeak – it is all in the strategy
We were down to the final round of Jenga. Whoever won would have won the night. As you can see from the picture, the game started very aggressively by removing not one but two of the blocks from the lower most layer. Nikita was a nervous wreck after that. As you can also see I took out an outer block from third and fourth layer. It was a very very unstable structure at that point.
Nikita put up a fight for over fifteen minutes extremely gingerly moving blocks and the hands were visibly shaking….
Eventually when it fell down, she came back with a prompt excuse – “I am good at games which require mental strategy and not this shaky-hand strategy” 🙂
And before I could cry foul or suggest this is grapes being sour, she immediately added “I get the mental intelligence from your side, dad!”
I weighed my options. I came to the inevitable conclusion that anything I said at that point of time would only work against me.
So, I quietly packed up the pieces back in the box. I did get beat in the final game!!!
24 November
2016
Nikispeak – in full flow
Natasha is home from college for Thanksgiving. The mere sight of her elder sister around brings the fiesty side of Nikita out. The whole day has been filled with some hilarious comebacks and sarcasm laden comments. Moreover, when she gets in such a mood, she is an equal opportunity riposter. Anybody in the way is susceptible to getting zingers from her.
I overheard the tail end of one such conversations going on between the three ladies. I think Natasha was describing some college friend’s mom to Sharmila and talked about how funny she was. Touched to the quick, no doubt, Sharmila suggested “Hey! Your mom is funny too”.
Nikita, hitherto very quiet, piped up in a seemingly supporting fashion – “Mom, you can be funny”. And just when Sharmila was going to give Natasha that “See, I told you so” look, Nikita completed her sentence with a zinging “… but usually not on purpose” 🙂
18 November
2016
As long as you know where you stand…
Picture this: It was way past my bedtime. Work wise, it has been a tough week so far. So, I lit the fire outside and sat with Sharmila for a glass of wine. Nikita, who came by later, took a few pictures of us (and the dog who is celebrating his second birthday today).
This picture, I thought, came out pretty nice. I asked her “What should I caption this?”. And then offered “Perhaps, Fire of Love”?
She laughed uncontrollably. On the border of hysterically.
“Ah! Twenty three years of marriage. That would do it”, I told myself!!
17 November
2016
What a great evening…
It is not often that I get a reminder from a very successful ex-CEO in Corporate America that I had promised to have a drink with him whenever I was in his town. Our relationship goes back quite a few years to my previous job. He was a customer then. We have had career changes from there.
But, thanks to that reminder, I did get a chance to have dinner with Paul Uhrig. My life has been nothing if not spending a few quality hours with some of the best human beings in this world. Paul is right up there on that list.
Sitting in a very nice Old Town Alexandria restaurant by the Potomac river, we caught up on our families, our old friends, the just concluded elections, our respective industries and much more. The most engaging part of our evening probably was exchanging notes on our professional journeys. Our journeys have been very very different – and that is what made our stories so engaging to each other.
I hope to see more of this guy down the road…
12 November
2016
Like I was saying earlier this morning….
12 November
2016
Just so that there is no doubt who reigns atop the throne…
4 November
2016
Close enough… don’t you think? :-)
3 November
2016
The child is the father of the man…
29 October
2016
Another “Million Dollar” moment
Close on the heels of Olivia producing a faux million dollar bill a few weeks back, I had another great experience. Last evening I had gotten together with my colleague from a previous life and a personal friend now – Shari – for a drink at Ray’s on the River to catch up on a few professional and personal things. Somewhere, in between those sips of white wine and an Old Fashioned, as we were discussing a work related item, Ashleah who was working the bar, popped up with her “Can I get you something else question”.
As deep as I was in our discussions, I have never been known to pass up on an opportunity to repeat an old joke. Before I knew it, I had already rolled out my “A million dollars would help!” answer. It had the usual reaction of laughter all around and that was that as Shari and I went back to our discussions.
Now get this – when I asked for the check and it duly arrived, I signed off on those two pieces of paper (my copy and the store copy) and I thought there was one more piece of paper below that. Half curiously and half mechanically, I removed the top two pieces of paper. And there it was – the best surprise of the evening.
Apparently, not to be outdone by my smart Alec comments, Ashleah had gotten hold of a white piece of paper roughly the size of a bill and drawn all over it to look like a million dollar bill! With a picture of a girl – I assume herself – and the $1,000,000 clearly marked out!
Both Shari and myself realized what had happened and laughed out loudly. We then had Ashleah come over to where we were sitting and take a picture with the bill and myself. We were still laughing as we walked out of the bar.
Okay, Ashleah, we will give you this one. For that quick thinking, sense of humor and the effort taken, we will admit that you are a million!! 🙂
