29 June
2014
29 June
2014
Intersection Point: Lata Jayaraman!!
This week started with a bang. Got to see a friend Lata Jayaraman – from 1986. We were introduced to each other by an ex girl-friend of mine. Ever since, our lives have gone in very different ways but once in every half a dozen years or so, luck would put us very close to each other and we would catch up on our past – the friends that we had those days (admittedly, I am the one who keeps giving the updates 🙂 ), her uncle who was my Physics professor in college, her cousins who were my next door neighbors in college dorm and so on.
Last Monday, I was able to see her for a couple of hours again. She was in town for some American Cancer Society convention. My friend is nothing if not a whole bundle of energy. I am the one who is relatively quiet when I meet her. So, you can do the math. In under two minutes of meeting her, she was talking about some medical terms that they had been evidently discussing during dinner. I was struggling to understand the relevance of the topic when she paused and explained in lay man’s terms. Evidently, all this time she was referring to bald heads 🙂
As always, one evening is way too short to catch up with all of Lata’s energies, but what the heck, I gave it a crack!!! At the end, I was so engrossed that I completely forgot to take her picture to capture in my “History of my Future. The First Draft” blog. I had to call her back from her room and get the valet guy to take a picture of us!!!
27 June
2014
Intersection Point in Chicago! Prasad Sista!!
It was a long day in Chicago… In fact too long. But it is always well that ends well!! After literally 10 hours of straight meetings, I was done for the day dog tired. But there was always time to call up a old friend from the past. Plus I had to have dinner and I hate eating by myself.
And that is how Prasad Sista and I found ourselves together 12 years after our last meeting when he came to pick me up from the hotel to go for dinner. We were in the same college back in India (although I suspect when I went to college, he had barely learnt how to spell “college”). And then we worked together for a few years in the same company.
That was a evening of a lot of laughter. Of the “Kadi” jokes of IIT Chennai and the really really funny incidents from i2 days. I have always thought that I have been blessed to work side by side with some great people. But the fact that they still remember me and actually want to meet me makes me feel very special. Especially when that person is as great a guy as Prasad Sista!!!
23 June
2014
Maid of the Mist in the morning. Sourav Ray in the evening. Take 2. (Take 1 was in 2013)
You have heard me often describing life as a random line drawn between various points at which you meet a human being and get to know him/her. And then often the lines bend themselves backwards to recreate a meeting with somebody you have met before to create “intersection points”. Life is all about the richness of those lines and the substance in those points.
And when an old friend of mine, upon hearing that I am near enough for him, packs his family in the car, crosses a country border enduring all the hassles of US Customs and Immigration and two hours later shows up to meet me and my family and in-laws and then checks into the same hotel as us just so that we could spend some more time the next morning, that is when I know that I am drawing all the right lines and creating all the right intersections.
And that is how Sourav Ray showed up with his family last night in Buffalo, NY, USA from Hamilton, ON, Canada. As you can see in the pictures, we simply had a blast. There is no greater story teller than Sourav and there is nothing I would exchange to spend some time with him and his family. The “adda”, the dinner, the after dinner drinks, the morning coffee by the hotel pool… every moment was to be savored!!
Last year, I met Sourav after 33 years when I took my family to the Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. And the next meeting did not even have to wait for a year, thanks to him.
Here is something to give you an idea of how easily Sourav can make you part of his family. If you saw us talking and chatting up about old friends and life in general, you could be excused for thinking that we have grown up together for years. Reality is that our paths crossed only for one year – from Jan 1980 thru Dec that year when we were in eighth grade together. And then he left our school!!!
But the real fun is discovering more intersection points together. Let me give you a couple of examples..
Last night as I was distracted talking to his daughter about something, I thought I heard him mention a name to my wife Sharmila. I paid some attention and figured he was talking about a girl from much earlier times that he had a softness for. I am not mentioning any names here since I have too many social media friends 😉 But I did interrupt him and told Sharmila “Do you remember XYZ that I introduced you to during event ABC”? She nodded affirmatively. “He is talking about his wife”. You should have seen Sourav’s face. He was completely taken aback by the fact that I knew the girl and her husband.
Another one .. Post dinner, we settled down for drinks and this time his wife Monolina mentioned another girl’s name. Again, I was talking to him that time so I had no idea what the context was all about. But I recognized the name. And asked her a question. I was quite sure there was an intersection point there. In front of them, I called up my brother in law (Sharmila’s brother) and he immediately confirmed that the aforementioned lady’s daughter and his son (my nephew) sit next to each other in their class in school! Again, Sourav was just completely aghast. After that he was very wary of mentioning any names lest I dig out some uncomfortable truths!!
As a final example, next morning, over coffee by the pool, he mentioned somebody’s name and that he has worked in supply chain. I figured I should know most people in supply chain. Made one single call (I had the added information that is person is in a Steel company) and asked my friend if he knew this other guy Sourav was talking about. Found out my friend was the boss of the guy Sourav was talking about about 11 years back!!! What is even more crazy, this friend of mine had visited Atlanta this week and come to our house to meet my in laws!!! My father in law was completely sympathetic with Sourav that he should not talk about anybody from his past 🙂
It is those intersection points that keep bringing us closer. Much more than the one year we spent together.
20 June
2014
I am a glutton for punishment!!
So what would you do after four days of a three city tour including four flights – two of them coast to coast and two of them much delayed? If you are much grounded in sanity, you will probably stay on ground for a few days.
But then I have to stay true to the one-word adjective my wife summarized me by – “quirky”. So, at the end of the work week, immediately packed up the family (including inlaws) and headed back to the airport.
A few phone calls and deft maneuvers later, here we are on a flight for the inlaws to see the Niagara Falls for the first time (and I am sure only time) in their lives. The kids have seen the Falls from the Canadian side but never from the American side.
Should be good!
On a serious note, just like for my parents, I am always scared which one of the trips is going to be the last time I get to see my inlaws (they are nearly 80). They are visiting us after 10 years. (Usually I go to India to see them every three months). I am lucky to still have both my parents and inlaws alive – albeit at various stages of physical abilities. I am acutely aware that that count is going to go down to 3 soon. How soon and which one, I do not know. Therefore, I am determined to create some “indelible moments” in their lives.
18 June
2014
Now, I am famous!
Well, I am not exactly famous, per se. But now, I know somebody famous!! As my friends from Hollywood tell me when they call me up – it is not who you are, it is all about who you know.
Well, I really do not have any friends in Hollywood either. But I had read something to the above effect once in a torn magazine that a thoughtful passenger had once left in the back pouch of my airplane seat. I think. 🙂
So there I was, with all my new teammates in our Portland office and had just finished addressing all their questions when something very intriguing happened. After the general body address, we gathered around the room for lunch and I was chatting with the individual members when somebody put up a video on the TV in that room.
It was a recording of a Jimmy Kimmel show. And presently, you could see a guy come on to the stage with one of those Darth Vader looking masks on and then he went on to do an amazing thing. He got onto his unicycle, kept cycling around – on that single wheel – all the time playing on bagpipes simultaneously!! And then in between, he would make fire shoot out of his bag pipes!! I thought that was too cool. You can check out the YouTube link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7InLDhchTVU
Like you now, I was wondering then what was all that leading to. Till I saw the guy on the show take off his mask and talk to Kimmel. I looked at the guy and then I looked at the guy sitting in front of me. A couple of furtive glances between the TV screen and the guy in front of me and I made the connection. I was sitting in front of that guy all this time!!! And that is how I was introduced to my new team mate Brian Kidd!
Obviously, I had too many questions for him. Found out that when he grew up in Virginia, he realized that somebody actually gave bagpipe lessons in his school and not knowing anything better, he signed up. And the unicycle? Well, he came across somebody in Portland who was throwing his unicycle into the dumpster. With that person’s permission, he picked it up from the dumpster and started teaching himself how to ride it. Now he rides it to office every day – 4.5 miles each way! And then one fine day, he put both of them together and started unibiking and playing bagpipes at the same time!
And how does he shoot the fire out? I will let you watch the video and hear his explanation. I saw some videos of he doing the same in various streets and marketplaces in Portland. Evidently, he is something of a celebrity here in Portland. He is known in this city as the “Unipiper”!!
And then other teammates caught up with me with more questions about myself and our business. As I was going thru those exchanges, I could hear the bagpipes again. Instinctively, I looked to the big TV screen. It was blank! I looked the other way – sure enough, Brian was coming down the office floor on his unicycle playing the bagpipes for us!!!
That is how life ought to be lived. Pick something from the dumpster and figure out how to make something out it…. enough to get you onto national TV.
Is that cool or is that cool?
18 June
2014
Making new friends…
If there is anything as exciting as meeting old friends while traveling on the road, it is probably making new friends in this exciting journey on the road we choose to call “life”.
Here is a new friend I made this week while catching up with my old friend – Reno. (See previous blogpost). And his name is Alejandro from Mexico. He was intrigued enough by my interest in making drinks that he gave me a couple of tips from his trade. The most valuable was the art of making layered drinks without getting the layers mixed up.
And here you can see him showing us how to make three drinks simultaneously!!! That was cool how he served three customers at the same time!! I need to go back some time to learn how to juggle bottles in the air while making cocktails!
18 June
2014
Meeting another good old runner!!
Again, the best part of enduring all the pains and hassles of flying every week with all those delayed flights and getting lost driving in downtown streets and that uncomfortable light in the hotel room that you do not want to switch off and make it too dark to stumble around looking for a glass of water in the middle of the night – nor can you sleep when it is on – is undoubtedly getting to see old friends – even if for a short time.
This week, I finally managed to catch up with gold old Reno. Long time back when I had just moved into Atlanta, I had the chance to run with her multiple times in our Windward Road Runners group.
A very successful executive, she kept getting promoted and kept moving cities. Twice I almost caught up with her – once in Utah and another time in Oregon. This week, finally managed to get some time after long work hours on both side to meet up for a quick drink or two.
It was great to catch up with her professional success, her runs, trail hikes, her family and our old friends from Atlanta.
I look forward to seeing her down the road again…
15 June
2014
Taking it easy
After a hard day of entertaining guests (admittedly Sharmila and her mom did all the work 🙂 ), my father-in-law and myself taking it easy at our favorite bar watching a World Cup Soccer game. He hid his wine so that my mother-in-law – who has gone with the girls to yet another party – won’t see it in the pic 🙂
12 June
2014
FIL-MIL Mehfil: Score this one for my mother in law
Remember the Afghan cab driver I had chatted up in DC who was startled to find out that I knew about Ahmad Ali – who happened to have learnt music with him in Kabul together and escaped from Afghanistan together? And remember how I had struggled with a particular song of Ahmad Ali that I was sure was the same tune as a Nazrulgeeti that I had heard in my childhood and for the life of me, never could remember which?
Well, I had called my sister, held the phone next a YouTube blasting on my computer and she could not figure it out either. I reached out to a few more people who I thought might know. And completely hit a wall.
Enter my mother in law.
Last Friday, I was listening to songs and practicing some tabla when she came to the music room. So, we started listening to songs together and then out of a whim I had her listen to the Ahmad Ali song and asked her if it reminded her of any other song. To my complete amazement, she said she did. But struggled to remember the song. I was t*h*i*s close!!!
She kept giving me hints – male singer, words were like “laas dhuiyo laal paani diye” etc etc. Furious Googling led to nothing. Whatsoever 🙁
Saturday morning, as she walked into the kitchen, she said softly (she is a very soft spoken person), “I think it starts ‘Jedin Lobo Biday'”. Coffee be darned, I immediately jumped onto Google and YouTube. SURE ENOUGH!!! She had nailed the song. Found out the song on YouTube. Compared the tunes. Exactly the same!!!
Evidently, she had stayed up the previous night for sometime trying to rack her memory cells till she could remember the song!!
Now, that is my kind of mother in law!!!
You can check for yourself.
The Ahmad Ali song can be found here (start from 5:55 Mark) http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o37CBES5cE4
And the Nazrulgeeti can be found here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-H5xFEqFSxc
Uncanny, huh?