20 October 2023

A unique route to Mumbai

Boarded Air France from Paris to Mumbai. First time I was flying this sector. We had to take a slight detour due to the unfortunate events going on in Palestine/Israel area. And looks like now threatening to spread to Lebanon.

The plane came down the Mediterranean Sea and stayed over the Sinai Peninsula over Egyptian air space. Came all the way to Aqaba (you may remember this place from Sharmila’s and my visit last year) and pulled a near right angle turn to the left to avoid air space over Jordan and instead went over Saudi Arabia and then onward.

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
18 October 2023

Off to another international trip

I admit that escaping Atlanta for a warmer place the moment mercury drops down to the 40s is a bit of being a fair weather friend.

Truth is though, Sharmila is in India to see her mom during Durga Puja (after 31 years). I thought I would get a jump on the weekend and put another international trip to a country for this year under the belt. Can you guess where I am off to?

Some hints:
1. It is of course warmer than Atlanta now

2. The places outside of the USA I have already been to this year: Abaco (Bahamas), Canada, Curacao, El Salvador, England, France, India, Malta, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Turks and Caicos.

3. It is a very short stay – 3 nights to be precise

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
16 October 2023

Thirty one years later!!

If you are Bengali-ly-challenged, all you need to know when somebody says “Durga Pujo” is something like the Brazilian Carnival, the German Oktoberfest, the Spanish Tomatina, the American Mardi Gras… all rolled into one. While it has some religious roots, people from all religion get together for 4 days of showing off in their finest dresses to do some “dhunuchi” dances (you will literally be holding fire and smoke in your hands), get high on “bhang”, eat a lot of goat meat and … loud music (“dhaak” – that percussion instrument that can swing even the oldest oak tree from side to side ) and of course, formless (“who the heck cares”) and formful (“we are from Santiniketan”) dancing.

EVERY. STREET. CORNER.

If you have not experienced Durga Pujo in Bengal, you do not know what energy is all about. Einstein and his MCsquared be darned!

Sharmila has not seen that energy ever since we moved to this country. 31 years back.
And neither have I.

Part of the challenge was that the kids never got time off in USA during Durga Pujo. Mostly because teachers asked “What is Durga Pujo?”

I was able to convince Sharmila to visit her mother during Durga Pujo this year. A bit surprisingly. Not the least because every other year she would say – you cannot take care of the kids when I am gone. Well, we are empty nesters now.

Hearing that she is coming – apparently the whole India sibling brigade got into a high gear. I understand now my brother and his family showing up in the small town – Durgapur – we all grew up in. And my sister and her family is following suit. Not to be left behind her own brother and his family are making a beeline to Durgapur too!

That ought to be a get together of a lifetime for the Roy/Ghose Family!!

How I wish I were there too!!

But as the eldest of the group, my role is to co-ordinate the whole thing and make sure it happens. Remind me to tell you next time how the three families were going to land up for a dinner get together on three different days if not for yours truly from USA reminding them they that they were totally messed up on their count of Saptami/Oshtomi/Nobomi and their Friday/Saturday/Sundays.

Category: My Family | LEAVE A COMMENT
14 October 2023

Another intersection point!!

So, there I was … in Virgin Atlantic Lounge after a fairly hectic 36 hours, all ready to jump the pond back when I got a message from Delta that the flight is boarding. That could not be true. The flight was two hours later. While on a call with somebody in India, I started walking to the entrance of the lounge where the display for flight information was.

Turns out Delta meant to say that a gate as been assigned. The flight would not be ready to board for quite some time.

But for that mistake from Delta, I would not have walked to the display boards and would not have heard somebody calling my name out! Turned around and there was Utsav!! We had started working together when I moved to Atlanta in 2007.

Coming to think of it, that erroneous message and the fact that his flight to JFK was delayed for three hours is what made both of us get to the display boards to check status.

He was on his way back from India. I was heading home from London. He was going to JFK and I was going to Atlanta. A message in error. A delayed flight.

Equals two old friends get to meet!!

Serendipity is such a beautiful thing!

Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT
14 October 2023

Scare of my life

How irritating is it when the phone rings while you are in the middle of an important meeting?

I had just landed in London after a near sleepless night and was in the middle of some serious discussions with the Board when the table vibrated slightly. Everybody glanced at their phones or fished them out of their pockets. I noticed that it was my phone and it said “No Caller Id”. Well, one more of those scam calls, I concluded. Pressed the power button to cancel the call, looked at the beautiful River Thames in front and proceeded with my spiel.

Within 5 seconds, the phone rang again. With “No Caller Id”. Fairly persistent fraudster. Canceled it yet again.

And sure enough, they called up yet again. For a moment, I had a doubt that Sharmila or the daughters might be trying to get hold of me. Excused myself and picked up the phone.

“This is Alpharetta Police Department. Am I talking to Rajib Roy?”

This was TROUBLE.

“Let me take this. It is urgent”, I told the Board members as I ran out of the room, fearing some real bad news. Visions of one of the three in an accident is what kept flashing in my mind.

“This is Rajib Roy speaking. What is going on?”

“Your car is parked in an illegal spot. You need to move it now or we will have it towed.”

That was confusing. My car is at the airport. It is in a reserved parking spot. There is no way my car is anywhere near Alpharetta.

“Where is the car?”

“On Highway 9. In front of Smokejack. We have signs all over not to park anywhere on the road due to downtown events”.

“Officer, I am in London right now. I suspect that is my wife’s doing. Let me call her”

So, I called Sharmila and sure enough she and Nikita were out and about and had the car parked where it should not have been.

I went back to the room and within a minute there was a message from Nikita that they had moved the car to a proper place.

Late in the evening after all meetings, I called up Sharmila to find out what had happened.

She explained that there indeed was a sign not to park. They saw it. It said Oct 15.

“Well, why were they disallowing cars to be parked there today? It is Oct 13th today.”

She explained herself.

Unfortunately, my phone had said “No Caller Id”. If I knew the number, I was so going to call back Alpharetta Police Department and let them know that somebody thinks it is all their fault. The “From” date should not have been written in smaller font than the “To” date!

Category: Humor, My Family, Travelogs | LEAVE A COMMENT