14 February 2026

Intersection Points strike again!

Sharmila and I were out and about in St. George’s market when I got a message from our first friends in this country – Rema Deo – “Where are you? And which hotel are you staying in?”

As a background, Rema and I got to know each other in 1992 while working at Citibank in Mumbai. Then we moved to Citibank in Florida, where they had already moved some time back. And then we moved to Citibank in Dallas. But, of course, always kept up with them. I think they were the first ones to visit us when our first daughter was born. And Sanjay, not knowing what to do with a newborn, assembled a barbecue for us, instead!!

Rema and Sanjay are crazy travelers, too. They have been to 65 countries, if I am not too mistaken. I figured they were going to give us some welcome tips.

Turns out, Rema and Sanjay were sitting on the tarmac on an American Airlines flight in Miami when she saw my Facebook post of “Island time again!” I had not mentioned which island, though. However, she had the presence of mind to go through the comments, and sure enough, somebody had asked where we were headed. And I had said “Grenada”.

Incredibly, that is where their flight was taking them! In fact, they had even booked at the same hotel as us and changed it at the last moment. Never mind, it is only a 15-minute walk away!

And that is how we met our friends from Florida over dinner this evening in this island of Grenada!

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10 February 2026

Made a new friend in the bar today!

I had settled down in my normal seat in the bar. Jess and Lauren came by to say Hi and ask, “The normal?” I nodded absent-mindedly, then opened the book I was reading. The goal was to get a couple of chapters under the belt over a glass of wine. Sharmila is in New York, so I had no travel planning to do, I guess.

Now, I mentioned that I was a bit absent-minded while responding to Jess and Lauren. And that is because I saw a very young kid going around and cleaning up the place. You know, putting things back in their place and that sort of thing. I had never seen the kid before.

“Who is he?” I asked Jess.
“Nolan. He is my younger son.”
“Oh! What is he doing – cleaning up the place?”
“Oh! He wants to be a help around. He loves it.”

He must have. Because, right at that moment, he showed up and asked, “Mom, what else can I do?”

Well, I introduced myself and found out that Nolan is a fourth-grader and that his favorite subject is Math. My idea of reading the book was defenestrated almost immediately. For the next hour or so, I taught him a few tricks rooted in math (like guessing your number and all), and then he would go try them on his mom and Lauren and impress them!

Eventually, it was time for me to go. It was getting late. We took a picture and parted ways. I am hoping that I will not have to wait till he comes of drinking age before I see him in the bar again!

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