18 November 2021

Unmasking my friend!

I thought twice… I thought thrice…

“Should I call out her name? What if it is not her?”

The moment I saw her walking into the airplane aisle, I thought she looked like my teammate Vicki. But the challenge was she had a big mask on and I just could not see enough facial features to come to a conclusive judgment.

What was even more interesting was that instead of going past me, she stopped near me and started putting her luggage up. And then sat down in my row one seat over on the other side of the aisle. She was trying to put her luggage up. Seeing her taking a few moments, I got up to help her. But by that time, she had already put the suitcase in. I sat down.

She looked at the passenger behind her and apologized “I am not tall enough”. And for the life of me I could not figure out whether the voice matched the one I have heard in Zoom calls and the couple of times I have talked to her directly.

I looked across my row. Her face was against the bright light from the window. The contour of her face did not help me much – I have not spent that much time with her. And then, there was the mask, of course.

My mind kept going back to a couple of months back when in a similar fashion, a gentleman sat down next to me and started talking to me mistaking me for one of his friends. And of course, I was trying to figure out how did I know that person. I figured my memory was failing me. We had a great laugh later and have become friends. In fact, I am friends with his son now too!!

Got busy with some office work and completely forgot about the lady till the boarding was completed and we had to shut down our laptops. Looked at her again. Still not sanguine.

Then an idea flashed across my mind. I texted her. You can follow the text message in the picture.

Turns out it was indeed Vicki Thomas. She was going home from Chicago and was connecting thru Atlanta. I was headed home too from our Chicago office!

Of course we had a great laugh. Took a selfie (which I am terrible at) after getting down.

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17 November 2021

Gift of a lifetime!

The lady you see in the picture – also the elder of the two young kids – is my friend Deval. The gentleman in the picture is her dad Girish M. Swami. He spent his life in three different continents – Africa (Tanzania), Asia (India) and then North America (USA). If he were alive today, he would be 80. Unfortunately, he left the world at the age of 60.

Sitting with Deval this week over dinner, I got to know the life journey of her dad. And the values that he had instilled in his daughters. While he had no formal training in music, he listened to a lot of classical Indian music.

And I have to say – he had great taste in music. Or at least, it was remarkably aligned with mine. You know how I know that? Because, Deval and her sisters have gifted me the entire vinyl record collection of her dad!!

Just glancing thru the old LP records of Ghulam Ali, Farida Khannum, Saigal, Bade Ghulam Ali and the likes, I was simply mesmerized. This was like handing candy to a kid. I knew right then and there which would be the first record I will start with!

Thank you Deval, Krupal and Rachana for letting me be the caretaker of your dad’s passion! Wish I had met him once to discuss Indian classical music!!

Category: Music/Poetry | 1 Comment on Gift of a lifetime!
16 November 2021

Meeting a real smart lady

Meeting Kiran invariably means I need to sharpen my brains. The topics of discussions are usually fairly deep and requires a lot of thinking. This time, the talk was about bias and the importance of being able to listen to the other side of the story. One thing we marveled about was – be it politics or religion or Covid vaccinations for that matter – how we quickly divide folks into one side or the other. But in reality, most people lie in a vast grey zone in that spectrum.

Great discussions!!

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14 November 2021

Maiden ride on Pegasus

First things first… the new bike has been christened “Pegasus”. Sharmila named this one. The first one was named Phoenix by Natasha.

Second, the maiden trip included a stop at my best friend’s (Amitesh) house first . He, being a man of high standards had made himself scarce when I showed up. After having a brief conversation with his dog across a glass window – a la in a prison – I proceeded to my ultimate destination – the hospice I spend time in every Sunday afternoon.

The first realization of novelty hit me moment I got off the bike. I had no rear bag. Or any face masks for that matter that I carry in it. Fortunately, the hospice gave me a couple!!

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14 November 2021

This is why I do not like going to grocery stores

The place is filled with illogical things. Plus I have this penchant for spotting everything under the sky other than the one thing I went there for.

All I needed was some juice. I kept spinning around the place looking intently, but unsuccessfully, for it. After a tip from a fellow shopper that there are two different locations for fruit juices (one for refrigerated and the other not so), I finally drifted in the right direction.

Except that I stopped cold on my way and strode back a few steps to confirm that I saw what I thought I saw. Now, you can see for yourself.

You cannot put Rogaine under “Shaving Needs”. Rogaine does not participate in any part of the shaving process. In fact, it does quite the opposite of the general concept of shaving. Which customer seeking Rogaine makes a beeline for the “Shaving Needs” section?

For a fleeting moment, it occurred to me that I should mention it to the girl at the check out counter. Then, thought the better of it since the lady who had given me the tip was standing right behind me in the queue at the counter. I did not want her to publicly point out that I did not where the juice was either!!

And that is how I survived this morning’s grocery shopping.

Category: Humor | LEAVE A COMMENT