30 August 2024

Ran into an old friend

It had been a whole week since I last visited an airport. To alleviate some of the withdrawal symptoms, I gathered my laptop, an umbrella, some paper and pen and headed towards downtown Alpharetta. The idea was to sit down at Boarding Pass in one of those Delta seats that they have (they also have those carts they wheel down the aisle in Delta planes!!) and catch up on some work.

After finishing talking to the owners – Murilo and Christine – and gathering my drink, I started walking towards one of those flight seats. And that is when I heard my name being yelled. Looked at the corner table and who else did I see but good old Tina!! We worked together some 15 years back. I have a lot of memories of her as one of our brightest and fastest growing executives. Lately, I had been getting updates of her from another CEO friend of mine (who she had started working with) but I had not seen her for over a decade!

It was so great to catch up with her and meet her husband Diego, her son and his girlfriend!

Now, I have to look her up in Blairsville when I go there in my motorbike.

24 August 2024

My kind of coffee joint!

There is a new coffee place opened in downtown Alpharetta. Called Boarding Pass Coffee! Do you recognize the chairs? Those are from actual airplanes!! The whole theme is of an airport.

Those weeks that I do not travel, I know where I will be to avoid withdrawal symptoms đŸ™‚

22 August 2024

That was unique!

Sharmila, Jay Jay and I were doing our usual evening stroll in downtown Alpharetta. And we saw this gentleman sitting down on the sidewalk. You give him a topic and he will write up a poem for you. And best part? Type it on his manual typewriter!! What a great set of skills!!

8 August 2024

My best friend from school days

Avijit and I were fairly inseparable when we were in middle/high school. Once I moved to the USA, we rarely got a chance to meet. He left for England first and then eventually Australia.

I did see him in 1999 in Kolkata, then around 2018 or so in the USA and then again in 2022 when both of us happened to be in Kolkata at the same time. Ironically, both of us were there to clean up all the property, bank accounts and such after our parents died. His mom and my parents all passed away within weeks of each other.

It is a testimony to the kind of relationship we had that he took a five hour, red eye flight from Perth after a whole day’s work to come and see Sharmila and me for a day. We had a great time driving around outside Sydney and checking out the Australian fauna. Finally, we settled by the Harbor in the evening and relaxed over a couple of drinks.