“Rajib?”
“Yes. Israel?”
“Yes, sir!”

And that is how we started our Uber trip in the morning from the hotel to San Francisco airport.

“Where is that accent from, Israel?”
“Nigeria!”
“Are you from Lagos? Abuja? Or the rural parts?”
“Lagos. How do you know about Nigeria?”
“Well, believe it or not, I have a school friend who works in Lagos and another in Abuja.”
“Are you from India?”
“That I am”
“Have you been to Nigeria?”
“No. Actually I have never been to anywhere in Africa.”
“Oh! You do not know what you are missing.”
“I know. The irony is my elder daughter was in your neighboring country Ghana for half a year. And my younger daughter is going to be in Uganda for some time next year. But I have not.”

That started an interesting conversation with Israel. Once I found out about his family – both in Nigeria and in the USA – we moved on to discussions of Nigeria. The politics there – the vast difference in the economies of the north and the south, the religious lines, the recent change in Presidency and so on. We, of course talked a lot about soccer. I told him how we grew up watching stars like Roger Milla from his neighboring country – Cameroon.

What startled me about Israel was his knowledge about India. He seemed to be quite abreast of the economic developments and politics in India. In fact, he was outright in praise of India and what it has achieved in the last couple of decades.

“I love Modi,” he declared.
“You do? Why do you like Modi?”
“He has kept India non aligned. He is not willing to be afraid of anybody – not China, not USA, not Russia. This is important for a country to grow up.”

“What do you think of Modi?” he asked me.
Instead of directly answering the question, I talked about all the positives and negatives I hear from my friends and read in the news.

From there Israel went into the different states of India. He demonstrated great interest in the different languages in India.

“Is it true that all your languages are different?”
“Yes. I have lived in four states. And my mother tongue cannot get me a glass of water in any of the other three states if I tried.”

“Where is Punjab?”
“It is in the north. Bordering on Pakistan.”
“What language to they speak there?”
“Punjabi”

He delved into Punjab for some time. Now, I was getting a little wary. There has been some deep political controversy recently that involves India, Canada, USA and some Punjabi citizens in USA and Canada that India considers as terrorists. Given the depth of knowledge Israel had on economics and politics, I was sure that this is where his curiosity was coming from.

“I know a name from Punjab.”
“You do?”
“Durminda”

I could not understand the name he gave. I was not sure whether it was his accent or he was pronouncing it wrong. So, I asked him
“What was that name again?”

“Dh-ur-meen-da”
“Dharmendra?”
“Yes, Yes,” he was clearly excited.

I started laughing out loud. He was talking about the famous Bollywood actor Dharmendra from the 1960s-80s. Bollywood movies were, and still are, a staple export from India to Africa. Interestingly enough, Nigeria has grown a very large movie production industry too. Bollywood today produces the largest number of movies in the world! As luck would have it, Nollywood (from Nigeria) is the second largest!

Anyways, I was laughing my head off, as I mentioned. Partly relieved that we had moved from politics and partly that he remembered Dharmendra.

Israel was still on a high. In a raised voice, he kept saying…

“I know Durminda. I know Sholay.”
“Well, you know more about them than me. I have not seen Sholay myself.”
“What?” Clearly, his enthusiasm was punctured.
“You are no Indian man, you are no Indian”, he kept saying, shaking his head!

And I just kept laughing to myself.

Finally, as we pulled into the airport and he came out to take my suitcase out, I asked him if we could take a picture together.

“Of course. But you have to promise to see Sholay when you go back home. Total action, man!”
“Ok. I will!!”

That was a fun start for the day.

If any of you take an Uber in San Francisco and the driver is an Israel from Lagos, ask him “Have you seen Shree Char So Bees? Asking for a friend!”

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!