I am pretty sure that the math does not work out

Simple geometry would suggest that the middle position should not be there. In fact, the more mathematically oriented will point out that the middle point of a square with six feet sides is only 1/sqrt(2) of six feet or about 70% of the required distance…

I am not sure why they put this there. This is in the elevator to the United Club in Newark airport. I was going to ask the lady at the counter but between my mask, her mask, two layers of plexiglass and six feet of separation, I thought the better of it!!

The math nerd in me still protests!

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24 March 2021

New York City – the Intersection of two generations

For somebody obsessed with creating intersection points, the city of New York could not have been a more appropriate point to create a generational intersection. I landed today in the city of more street intersections than I can think of drawn by two forces…

Here to settle out on the property in the city where the next generation (Natasha) is going to settle down for the foreseeable future…

Also here to catch a flight to India to confront a new reality there … that the prior generation (dad and mom) has been unsettled for ever…

In the hustle and bustle of this city, standing at a street intersection anywhere… that is the lesson of life you as thee middle generation learn…

People come… and people go…

The old order changeth yielding place to new…

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17 March 2021

Best laid plans of mice and men

It was surreal walking into a near empty office. It was like one of those neutron bomb scenarios you see in the movies. All the things were where they were – just the people were no more!!

Walked into my empty cubicle exactly 52 weeks – a whole year – later!! Set the laptop down on the station and immediately the printer came to life with the soft purring of cleaning the cartridges. It was good to realize that somethings had not changed forever yet.

Checked on the staff at the hotel bar next door – had even a drink with two colleagues there – like the good old times. It was difficult to recognize the staff with their masks on but they had no doubt that the nosy guest was back again moment I started chatting them up!!

Their menu has changed but Tracey and Deval ordered what we used to have long back when just to relive the old days.

Was encouraged to feel some semblance of normalcy starting to creep in.

Was painful to see all the grand 2020 plans we had laid that I had printed out to organize them neatly on the boards around me!

Ah! The best laid plans of mice and men… as the old bard had observed once…

Category: Travelogs | 4 Comments

15 March 2021

Exactly a year later…

Last year, my travels came to a screeching halt when I canceled my Mar 16 flight to Chicago the previous day. Pandemic took over the world and I did not get on to a flight for almost eleven months.

Exactly a year later – on Mar 15th – I am back to my work travel. Car in the same spot at the airport on a Monday morning, finished my banana and threw the peel in the same trash can before getting into the airport, same routine of picking up a paper boarding pass, Clear Pre check thru …

Felt almost like the good old Monday mornings with a few differences… the call to India on the drive to the airport was to my brother and then sister instead of my mom, the airport was fairly empty (but not like what I saw in Feb) and of course, everybody was wearing masks.

By the way, in that whole one year, I completely forgot to fix the wheel of my suitcase that got broken in one of the last trips last year!!!

Good to be back in the air for work again!!

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12 March 2021

Back to the lake…

… the first day that Pig Tales opened. Met up our old friend Ashley after what seems like ages… Lots of boats were out in the water taking advantage of the mid-70s temperature. Loved the dog earnestly keeping a watch for rough waters sitting in the front of the canoe.

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1 March 2021

Meeting a great leader

Two and a half years back, I entered a whole new industry. As one of my first things to do in the first month, I had called up my peer CEOs to introduce myself. While studying up on Kristin – who is the CEO of PAR Inc – I noticed that she had spent some time with Johnson and Johnson and then became a CEO (first of inVista and then PAR).

One of my first questions to her was – “How does one go from J&J to being a CEO of PAR?”. Her memorable response was “It helps if your dad had started the company!”. I remember laughing out loud. Her humility and humor struck me that day. And has struck me in every conversation I have had with her ever since.

Over the years, I have learnt quite some from her about the industry as well as learnt the depth of her leadership skills.

Was able to fulfill an old promise of looking her up if I was ever in the Tampa area this evening. Kristin and her husband Dan joined Avi and myself for a nice dinner tonight. The place was great, the food was awesome and the company was perfect. Found out later that the place I had chosen was the exact place Kristin and Dan had gotten married in!! What is the chance of that?

Great conversations!! Memorable evening!!