Deepak Rammohan Bharadwaj!

I had not called out that name in a long time. Deepak was one more of those incredibly smart young kids (well, then he was a kid) that I got a chance to work with in the then startup – i2! The first thing that comes up in my mind when anybody mentions Deepak’s name is “independent thinking”.

Even in those days, he would come up with an angle of thinking that would often be missed by the rest of the team. Often ran contrary to the group’s thinking.

Then one fine day, in the middle of his career, he decided to go back to academia and get another degree.

Subsequently, in his career, he has switched fields and domains a few times.

While I have not been as successful in thinking independently and just being brave in taking life decisions as he, I have always wanted to sit down with him and have a long session of understanding what his life lessons have been.

Today was that day! I was in San Francisco for a day. As anybody knows, traffic from the outer cities to SFO is a bear in the evening. I had offered to meet him straight out of the airport before coming to my hotel.

“No. You have never missed in wishing me on my birthday one single year. This time I am coming over to see you!”

The evening started by discussing one of our common loves – mixology. He has stuck to the classical drinks while I have experimented with fruit juices a lot. One thing we both agreed on – James Bond really messed up the classic martini for everybody with his vodka version and that “shaken not stirred” thing. Martini has become Deepak’s go to drink while Old Fashioned is mine. That is how this evening started too – although we switched to softer red wine with our dinner.

“So, what drives you to think independently and act independently?”, I asked him.

Deepak thought for a moment and offered “Trying new things keeps me excited”. We discussed the challenges one faces in following an independent path. The friction (of straying from the herd) that one has to overcome in the society, friend circle, family… and so on.

Finally, before he left, I asked him my tombstone question.

“So, what do you want be written on your tombstone?”

“Just that he was a nice person!”

“That you are, sir! That you are!!”

I was sitting down at Starbucks trying to catch up on some bill payments and all that when I saw a young lady walking towards me. I wasn’t sure if she was headed for the restrooms or for me. But moment she smiled, I realized she was heading for me!

“Amanda!! It has been such a long time!”, I exclaimed.

“I know!”

Amanda was my dental hygienist for a long time before she left the dentist office I go to for greener pastures. I had not seen her for years. I remember all the chats we used to have during my regular visits to the dentist’s office. I had gotten to know about her family from all those conversations.

Today, I got to meet one of her kids – Avery!

A few months back, I ran into Manu and Mihika in the airport. Turned out we were all headed to Scotland in the same flight.

Today, Sharmila and I were casually strolling in downtown Alpharetta heading towards one of our usual watering holes when we spotted a lady hurriedly crossing the street. And we thought we knew her. Sure enough, it was the other Gupta family member that I did not meet in the airport!

Keerti joined us at the bar for some time for a good chat!

There I was – sitting at my usual chair at my usual Starbucks after my usual morning routine busy knocking off some office work before the traffic on 400 subsided. Picked up my head from the laptop and I thought I saw somebody I knew walking thru the door. Except, this is not where I would normally expect to see him.

But sure enough, it was good old Jon!! He had come up from Buckhead to meet a friend.

You may remember him from a prior post as the CEO that meaningfully changed the arc of my career by taking a huge chance on me. Always great to catch up with this nicest gentleman I know.