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!!!

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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!!!

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10 October 2013

Is this a biker gang?

Mr. Al Blake!!! We worked together nearly two decades back and the best we could remember we saw each other 16 years back.
I had some great discussions of life in general with him – the concept of being happy, the overinflated importance of a job, family, financial security….
We remembered some of the best people we had the chance to work with from our past…
I could have gone for another four hours just getting his incredibly balanced perspective . There is a lot I could learn from him…

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9 October 2013

Willie Weichi Weng (the other www :-) )

Willie Weng!! Or as we Bengalis are prone to pronounce it – Billie Beng!!! (and to the veterans of that character building exercise called Toshiba project from i2 days – simply Wiilie-san!!)
A pleasanter person I have never met in my life!
Since my first meeting with him in 1995, he has been the example of personal humility that I have fruitlessly toiled to emulate…

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9 October 2013

Reconnecting!!!

Business trips to Dallas always means opportunities to quickly reconnect.
Ran (barely managed to keep up is a better way of putting it) 5 miles with Subrata. I had met him way back in 2001 – and they promptly left for China! (Yeah! I kind of have that effect on people 🙂 ) Our original connection was that my sister and his wife were elementary school classmates.
Next time I met him was in 2010 – Jan 1st when a bunch of us Bengalis went out for a run in Dallas to welcome the New Year.
Today, after the run, we sat down at the Starbucks to get to know each other a little more. Like me, he was born in a very small village! Unlike me, his rest of his growing up was in the same village. (That village got electricity after he moved to US).
Now get this. There is another small village nearby from there. Both our sisters are married to two guys from that other small village!! Same age group! We are trying to find out if they knew each other!! His brother-in-law’s dad was the headmaster of the school that my brother-in-law went to!!!
Go figure!!
Remember my point about intersection points!!! 🙂

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3 October 2013

Remembering a certain David Yankey….

… a week after I heard the “news”

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Poet: Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004)

28 September 2013

Chance Meeting…

Beautiful day in Atlanta. The sun and the clouds are constantly playing peek-a-boo with each other and a light breeze is blowing. Dropped the daughter at Chattahoochee High School for a debate program and went for a run. 5K into the run, I had a vague recollection that there was this guy that I have talked to a few times after moving to ATL but never met – who I thought had told me he lived near that High school.
Fished out the phone, got his contacts from old phone records and called him. Guess what? Six years after moving to Atlanta, we saw each other for the first time and ran another 5K. Grabbed our Starbucks – which was overcrowded outside since it is a gorgeous day – and sat on the sidewalk under a tree and chatted just like we would have back in India.
Found out we have many many connections from my last three jobs. Best part – we graduated in the same year from two different colleges literally across from each other in Chennai. For all you know we had tea together in those tea stalls between the campuses. Maybe this was not the first time we had coffee sitting on the sidewalk under the trees!!!