26 December
2022
25 December
2022
“Luchi” collaboration in full process
23 December
2022
There were enough helmets to cover all our heads!
It was a cold day. Pop’s Coffee Shop was the perfect place to grab a hot cappuccino and catch up with Arup and Sheuly. Arup and I have not run together in a long time. Our miles have come down a lot and most of them are solo runs. We had a lot of ground to cover today given we are going thru roughly the same phases of life with two daughters, both having changed houses recently and both having not played the tabla for some time!!
20 December
2022
Ran into the old gang after some time
18 December
2022
What I remembered today
One of the fond memories I have of my mom goes this way…
Now, as a background, you might want to know that I was sent away to residential school at the age of 16. Thru high school and then college and subsequently while working, I used to come back home fairly often. At least, more often than most of my friends.
The first two hours of the routine in every such trip never wavered. Invariably, I would go to the kitchen where mom would be busy cooking and stand there at the door and chat with her. It would be a fairly one sided conversation. I would basically dump on her in a couple of hours everything that had happened to me since I met her last.
And after that, I would completely vanish. For the next couple of days, I would be out on my dad’s Vijay Deluxe mostly spending time with my friends or out there on the field playing with my brother.
All that changed during those years was that she moved from a coal fired oven (I still remember she making the hot rotis on it) to a LPG gas burner. Instead of sitting down to cook, she moved to standing and cooking. But other than that, my side of the routine never changed.
All that changed of course. when cell phones came. I talked to her every single day. Therefore, during my quarterly visits, there was not much “catch up” to do.
Those memories of a young boy standing at the kitchen door having a monologue with his mother is what flashed by my mind first thing this morning.
Two years later, I sometimes still instinctively reach for the phone to call her in the morning.
Today was the day, two years back, she suddenly collapsed and unexpectedly died.
These kind of fond memories are what she left.
18 December
2022
Finally home after a near twelve hour delay!
17 December
2022
See if you can spot our dog Jay Jay
8 December
2022
Probably the last boat ride this year
5 December
2022
Upside of traveling all the time
Ran into old colleague Sri Chari at the Atlanta airport. I was waiting for my backpack to make it thru the security check when Sri, who had spotted me first, called out my name. Fortunately, both of us were flying out of Terminal A. That gave us an opportunity to settle down in the Skyclub there and catch up on our lives over the last decade.
28 November
2022
Usually it is the other way round
I was sitting at my desk working in one of those shared office space places in Alpharetta when a young Indian gentleman started approaching me. He seemed new to me. I have been working out of that place for over 12 years and could not recollect seeing him before.
“Rajib?”
Well, that surprised me. I thought he was going to ask for some help or directions in the new place. But it seemed like we knew each other.
“Yes. You have to help me out a little here.”
“20 years back. Dallas.”
“i2?” I asked.
“Yes”, he replied. But I still could not put the face and a name together.
“You have to help me a little bit more.” I admitted.
“Pradheep Sampath.”
That is when it clicked. Product Manager in Nayan’s group. All sorts of three letter acronyms – LSP (large scale planning), SPP (Spare Parts Planner) started flowing fast thru my stream of consciousness.
From there, the joining of dots flew fast and thick. We remembered a lot of our past friends and some memorable events from our Dallas days.
I had to get back to my Zoom calls after the coffee break. But, good news is that Pradheep will be visiting Alpharetta from DC regularly. Looking forward to spending more time with him!!
(As a reflection point later in the day, it reminded me of something I tell my folks at work always. When we meet again many years later, we will forget product names and financial numbers. We will always remember people and specific interactions. That is how we humans are.)
