26 August 2022

The final piece of furniture has arrived!

Sharmila bought the sofa back in November last year. 9 months of supply chain issues later, it is finally here. There are still finishing touches left but she thinks now the main floor has all the essentials to start calling her friends.

Also the battle of attrition between Jay Jay and her in terms of whether he can restore his rights to jump on to the sofa has ensued. As of now, he is on the losing end!!

Sofa. So good!

Category: 4 Legged Friend, Family | LEAVE A COMMENT
23 August 2022

The bookends of a phase of our life

The first picture is the day Natasha came home from the hospital. In our infinite wisdom, we had decided to move into our first house a few days before Natasha was expected. It certainly did not help that Natasha decided enough was enough and came out ten days early. We brought her to a house surrounded by boxes and I spent most of the day looking for things in those myriad of boxes.

The second picture is the moment Nikita gave her goodbye hug to Sharmila before she set off on her own life in college on Monday. The facial expressions on their faces says it all.

In between those two bookends has been 24 years of amazing learnings in life. From those early days when you wish the first kid at least came with a user manual to learning how to negotiate with a two year old who has no concept of logic nor reason to nursery rhymes playing in your mind incessantly even in your sleep to suddenly realizing your sole purpose in life is to serve as an embarrassment in front of their school friends – it has been an incredible journey.

As with every parents, I suspect, we got a few things right and a few things not so right. But going thru a phase of life when you realize that you are really all they have as helpless kids trying to stand up in life has to be one of the most rewarding experiences life can offer to you.

The next chapter begins from here.

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22 August 2022

A memorable evening with a memorable couple

And this is from somebody who tends to have some incredible evenings chatting with various people at bars and coffee shops literally everyday…

On our drive back from DC, Sharmila and I were scheduled to stay the night over at Charlotte. Decided to meet Christine and Tim for some drinks and bites. Christine and I have recently started working together. First time I met Tim.

The conversations between a 56 year old and a couple barely half that age can often struggle to find common grounds. Not with this couple. Especially, Tim. I have never come across in this country this young a couple who has this deep an understanding of geopolitical realities in various parts of the world. (Well, the other Tim and Nanette is close but they are not that young 🙂 Seems like I might need to avoid Norcross for some time 🙂 )

From current day political situations in Ghana to Sierra Leone to Kenya on one hand and then the historical importance of geo location of Malta on the other hand, I was soaking it all in! We talked about Andorra! (most people cannot even show the country on the world map or even tell which continent it is in – they knew the name of the capital and they want to visit there next!! They have already been to Malta)

There are certain discussions in life I can have with only 50+ year olds. You know you have to get to a certain age to get perspectives. Not with Tim. I was simply amazed by his level of wisdom when it came to what is truly important in life.

He stated a few principles he tries to live his life by. As I told him – the third one in the list is all that I needed to know – “When is the last time you have changed your mind?”.

If one truly can keep one’s minds open to other points of views, have the intellectual curiosity and be aware of one’s own biases – one really never gets old!!

I think I might have to slip down to Charlotte one more time soon!!

Category: Friends, Vacations | 1 Comment on A memorable evening with a memorable couple
20 August 2022

Chance meeting with a young kid

Since I was in DC, I had to meet my classmate from 5th grade – Pramod. What was icing on the cake was that he was hosting Kalpita who had just arrived in the USA. She is joining University of Maryland for a PhD program.

Here is the twist. When I met her, I asked her if she remembered me. She answered in the negative. I told her that I had visited her house when she was barely 12 years old. I described her house in Kolkata. She agreed that everything matched in my descriptions but she could not believe that I had seen her before.

You see her dad was also a classmate of mine from 5th grade. So, much to her amazement, I showed her some pictures from my visit to her house in 2012 (see inset).

Category: Intersection Points, Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
13 August 2022

The Jadejas! After such a long time!!

Nayan and Deepma were in town to drop Niharika at Emory. Sharmila and I had an outstanding evening with them. After seeing Niharika, I went back to the photo database to locate her in the archives.

The small kid in blue top? Yep, it is the same Niharika – this is back in 2004. (The other girl with her is our own Natasha !) We missed Avichal this time around!!

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11 August 2022

My compatriot from Muenchen days!

Last time I met Sameer was over seven years back. I think we were doing college tours for Natasha.

My last night in SFO was spent having dinner with this old friend. He has remained pretty much the same with that ever present smile and the quiet demeanor. The one surprise was his new hairstyle!!

Since he is an Apple executive, I always get a few pointers on some interesting and useful apps on iOS. I still use the sleep app he had suggested. This time he showed me a few that will test my intellect and spatial thinking!

Thank you Sameer for coming out to Burlingame all the way from San Jose.

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10 August 2022

A short and sweet meeting with Celeste

Both of us had about 30-40 minutes of break during our meetings. We were in the same city but, of course we were in different offices. Made a dash to grab a coffee and catch up.

We had worked together for about 3 years. These were the early days of the current company I work in. As it often happens, we have way too many stories from those early formative days of the company. We even sat in adjacent cubicles before Covid came in.

Have you noticed how when you meet old friends from work after many years – none of your recollections involve numbers or even product names? Almost all of them are about people – and in fact specific interactions with or of those people.

I have a few that Celeste and I are going to talk about – maybe fifteen years from now. The one that I am surely going to mention to her soon to be born son is how we even got to an agreement to work together!!! I am sure she will suggest that it was my version, but I will have Graham to back me up!

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