After the art show, Sharmila and I landed up in Bombay Lounge to grab some drinks and Indian appetizers. Nika there absolutely makes the best cocktails ever. The smoked Old Fashioned was outstanding. (I liked her choice of burning cherry wood more than my own hickory wood). And then to be compliant with Cinco De Mayo, we had a mango margarita too!
Sharmila was not home. So, both of us sat in a corner of Chiringa and had some quiet time. I caught up with some reading – a book and the Economist – and he focused on people watching. (completely ignored the dogs trying to get his attention).
Photo courtesy Emily who seemed extra busy this evening.
Amit was in town for a family wedding. Thanks to Anand’s efforts, we were able to get together for a couple of hours. Madhav made it too but we missed Karthik.
Back in the mid 2000s, both Amit and I had left Dallas around the same time – he headed to India and I, to Atlanta. His interests in life is more varied than I have seen in anybody. I am fairly sure he is the friend I have that gets the title of “somebody I know with the highest number of followers in Twitter”.
We went over some awesome memories from the past. He and I were next door to each other in office and many a random lunches were spent together talking about stuff. (a safe guess would be complaining about things at work đŸ™‚ ).
Today, there were couple of great debates in geopolitics. Really enjoyed the depths in the arguments from Madhav, Anand and of course, Amit!
So, there I was. Sitting in a corner of the coffee shop with my cappuccino and getting a few weekly chores cleared out from my laptop when I thought I heard a lady call out my name. It was an unlikely place to meet somebody I knew. I have been going there for three years and it has never happened to me.
I took my eyes off the screen and looked up. And sure enough – it was my old friend Marianne Petty standing there. She was there with her family picking up some coffee. I did not realize that she lived very close to that place.
I got to know her back in 2007 or so when I started a new job. She was in HR and had started a couple of years earlier than me. What is funny is that while talking to Ben (her husband), I found out that he had a long career in the same company too. Not only did I not know that, he actually remembers being in the same room as I during a meeting!! I really need to pay more attention to people around me.
I got help from her daughters for the selfie. (I just can’t do that thing well)
It was such a great chance to meet this wonderful family. I saw Marianne herself after a decade!
… the young ones are the ones that I learn the most from. Met Nicholas and Grace who were helping me at my table in Landsharks Bar and Grill. There were not too many customers on a weekday – so we got to chat a lot. Learnt about how Nicholas got into trading futures and options. His conclusions? It is gambling at the end of the day.
The three of us had some great give and take about where we would go if we could go anywhere and how would we spend $100,000 if we were not allowed to save or invest.
